because, among other factors, emerging market countries can have greater custodial and operational risks; less developed legal, tax, regulatory, and accounting systems; and greater political, social, and economic instability than developed markets. Emerging markets risk is especially high for the Fund.
•Currency risk, which is the chance that the value of a foreign investment, measured in U.S. dollars, will decrease because of unfavorable changes in currency exchange rates. Currency risk is especially high in emerging markets.
•Nondiversification risk, which is the chance that the Fund's performance may be hurt disproportionately by the poor performance of bonds issued by just a few issuers or even a single issuer. The Fund is considered nondiversified, which means that it may invest a significant percentage of its assets in bonds issued by a small number of issuers as compared with diversified mutual funds.
•Credit risk, which is the chance that a bond issuer will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner or that negative perceptions of the issuer's ability to make such payments will cause the price of that bond to decline. Because the Fund invests in both investment-grade and below-investment-grade bonds (also known as high-yield or junk bonds), credit risk should be high for the Fund.
•Liquidity risk, which is the chance that the Fund may not be able to sell a security in a timely manner at a desired price.
•Derivatives risk, which is the chance that the use of derivativessuch as futures contracts, foreign currency exchange forward contracts, swap agreements, and optionscan lead to losses because of adverse movements in the price or value of the underlying security, asset, index, or reference rate. The use of derivatives presents risks different from, and possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in the underlying securities or assets. Also, a liquid market may not always exist for the Fund's derivative positions at times when the Fund might wish to terminate or sell. The use of a derivative subjects the investor to the risk of nonperformance by the counterparty (i.e., counterparty risk), potentially resulting in delayed or partial payment or even nonpayment of amounts due under the derivative contract.
•Interest rate risk, which is the chance that bond prices will decline because of rising interest rates. Interest rate risk should be moderate for the Fund based on expected sensitivity of the portfolio to interest rate movement.
•Income risk, which is the chance that the Fund's income will decline because of falling interest rates. Income risk should be moderate for the Fund, so investors should expect the Fund's monthly income to fluctuate accordingly.
•Call risk, which is the chance that during periods of low or falling interest rates, issuers of callable bonds may call (redeem) securities with higher coupon rates or interest rates before their maturity dates. The Fund would then lose any price appreciation above the bond's call price and would be forced to reinvest the unanticipated proceeds at lower interest rates, resulting in a decline in the Fund's