Short-Term Bond Fund

Performance data quoted represents past performance. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investment return and principal value of an investment in the fund will fluctuate so that an investor's shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. The funds' current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted.

The Fund may invest in mortgage- and asset-backed securities which may be subject to prepayment risk and thus may be more sensitive to interest rate changes than other types of debt securities. The Fund may also invest in U.S. dollar-denominated securities issued by foreign issuers which involve additional risks including political and economic instability, differences in financial reporting standards and less regulated securities markets. While the U.S. government has historically provided financial support to various U.S. government-sponsored agencies, no assurance can be given that it will do so in the future if it is not obligated by law. A bond's market value may be affected significantly by changes in interest rates – generally, when interest rates rise, the bond's market value declines and when interest rates decline, its market value rises ("interest rate risk").

The Bloomberg 1–3 Year U.S. Government/Credit Bond Index is an index consisting of Treasury or government agency securities and investment-grade corporate debt securities with maturities of one to three years. Indices are unmanaged and are not available for direct investment.

Time periods greater than one year are annualized.

The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or "star rating", is calculated for managed products with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The Morningstar Rating does not include any adjustment for sales loads. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its 3-, 5-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent 3-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.

© 2021 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The information contained herein: (1) is proprietary to Morningstar; (2) may not be copied or distributed; and (3) is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely. Neither Morningstar nor its content providers are responsible for any damages or losses arising from any use of this information.

The Morningstar Analyst Rating™ is not a credit or risk rating. It is a subjective evaluation performed by Morningstar’s manager research group, which consists of various Morningstar, Inc. subsidiaries (“Manager Research Group”). In the United States, that subsidiary is Morningstar Research Services LLC, which is registered with and governed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Manager Research Group evaluates funds based on five key pillars, which are process, performance, people, parent, and price. The Manager Research Group uses this five-pillar evaluation to determine how they believe funds are likely to perform relative to a benchmark over the long term on a risk adjusted basis. They consider quantitative and qualitative factors in their research. The impact of the weighted pillar scores for people, process and parent on the final Analyst Rating is further modified by a measure of the dispersion of historical alphas among relevant peers.  

The Analyst Rating scale is Gold, Silver, Bronze, Neutral, and Negative. For active funds, a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold, Silver, or Bronze reflects the Manager Research Group’s expectation that an active fund will be able to deliver positive alpha net of fees relative to the standard benchmark index assigned to the Morningstar category. The level of the rating relates to the level of expected positive net alpha relative to Morningstar category peers for active funds.  Analyst Ratings ultimately reflect the Manager Research Group’s overall assessment, are overseen by an Analyst Rating Committee, and are continuously monitored and reevaluated at least every 14 months.  

For more detailed information about Morningstar’s Analyst Rating, including its methodology, please go to https://shareholders.morningstar.com/investor-relations/governance/Compliance--Disclosure/default.aspx. 

The Morningstar Analyst Rating (i) should not be used as the sole basis in evaluating a fund, (ii) involves unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the Manager Research Group’s expectations not to occur or to differ significantly from what they expected, and (iii) should not be considered an offer or solicitation to buy or sell the fund.