Municipal bonds: now more than ever

Performance data quoted represents past performance and does not guarantee future results.

Source: Morningstar as of 9/30/2023. Rankings for all funds are for the Institutional share class. Performance for other share classes may vary. Rankings based on total return excluding sales charges, independently calculated and not combined to create an overall ranking. The following funds are ranked as follows: Strategic Municipal Opportunities Fund: 1 Year 151/171; 3 Year 13/163; 5 Year 128/144; 10 Year 68/112. California Municipal Opportunities Fund: 1 Year 17/63; 3 Year 4/61; 5 Year 35/59; 10 Year 2/48. New York Municipal Opportunities Fund: 1 Year 67/82; 3 Year 2/80; 5 Year 27/74; 10 Year 7/62. National Municipal Fund: 1 Year 249/299; 3 Year 126/273; 5 Year 167/236; 10 Year 38/185. High Yield Municipal Fund: 1 Year 141/195; 3 Year 88/188; 5 Year 68/176; 10 Year 18/112. Short-Term Municipal Fund: 1 Year 69/228; 3 Year 77/209; 5 Year 138/191; 10 Year 114/139. Pennsylvania Municipal Bond Fund: 1 Year 34/50; 3 Year 32/50; 5 Year 32/48; 10 Year 11/39. New Jersey Municipal Bond Fund: 1 Year 13/47; 3 Year 14/47; 5 Year 17/46; 10 Year 5/38. Ratings based on risk-adjusted total return, determined monthly and subject to change.

Source: Morningstar as of  9/30/2023. The Morningstar Rating™ for funds, or “star rating”, is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life sub-accounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) 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 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 three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods. Strategic Municipal Opportunities Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 4 star for the 3-year period, 2 stars for the 5-year period and 4 stars for the 10-year period, rated against 163, 144 and 112 Muni National Interm Funds, respectively. California Municipal Opportunities Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 5 stars for the 3-year period, 3 stars for the 5-year period and 5 stars for the 10-year period, rated against 61, 59 and 48 Muni California Interm Funds, respectively. New York Municipal Opportunities Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 5 stars for the 3-year period, 4 stars for the 5-year period and 5 stars for the 10-year period, rated against 80, 74 and 62 Muni New York Interm Funds, respectively. National Municipal Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 3 stars for the 3-year period, 2 stars for the 5-year period and 4 stars for the 10-year period, rated against 255, 229 and 174 Muni National Interm Funds, respectively. High Yield Municipal Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 4 stars for the 3-year period, 4 stars for the 5-year period and 4  stars for the 10-year period, rated against 188, 176 and 112 High Yield Municipal Funds, respectively. Short-Term Municipal Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 2 stars for the 3-year period, 2 stars for the 5-year period and 2 stars for the 10-year period, rated against 209, 191 and 139 Muni National Short Funds, respectively. Pennsylvania Municipal Bond Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 3 stars for the 3-year period, 3 stars for the 5-year period and 4 stars for the 10-year period, rated against 50, 48 and 49 Municipal Pennsylvania Funds, respectively. New Jersey Municipal Bond Fund (Inst. shares) received a Morningstar Rating of 4 stars for the 3-year period, 4 stars for the 5-year period and 4 stars for the 10-year period, rated against 47, 46 and 38 Municipal New Jersey Funds, respectively. Other share classes for these funds may have different performance characteristics.