Principal investments

The Fund normally invests substantially all its assets in municipal bonds, which are bonds and similar securities issued by or on behalf of the states, territories and possessions of the United States (including the District of Columbia) and their political subdivisions, agencies and instrumentalities that are exempt from federal income tax. The Fund may invest in insured and uninsured municipal securities. The Fund's investments may include, but are not limited to, general obligation and revenue bonds, tax-exempt commercial paper, short-term municipal notes, tender option bonds (including inverse floaters), floating and variable rate demand obligations, and other municipal securities that pay income exempt from federal income tax. Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets (plus borrowings for investment purposes, if any) in securities that pay income exempt from federal income tax. The Fund normally invests at least 65% of its total assets in municipal bonds that, at the time of purchase, are rated investment grade by an independent rating agency (or if unrated are deemed to be of comparable quality by the Advisor), but it also invests, to a lesser extent, in lower-rated bonds (also known as "junk bonds"). The Fund may also, to a lesser extent, invest in US Treasury securities and other securities of the US government, its agencies and government-sponsored enterprises. The Fund is a non-diversified fund, which means that the Fund may invest more of its assets in a smaller number of issuers than a diversified investment company.

The Fund's weighted average portfolio duration will be similar to the option-adjusted duration of the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index, but may range between 3 and 10 years. As of March 31, 2024, the option-adjusted duration of the Bloomberg Municipal Bond Index was 6.07 years. The Fund may invest in bonds of any maturity or duration.

The Fund may, but is not required to, use exchange-traded or over-the-counter ("OTC") derivative instruments as part of the Fund's investment strategies. Generally, derivatives are financial contracts whose value depends upon, or is derived from, the value of an underlying asset, reference rate, index, or other market factor and may relate to stocks, bonds, interest rates, credit, currencies or currency exchange rates, commodities and related indexes. The derivatives in which the Fund may invest include interest rate and, to a more limited extent, credit instruments such as options (including, options on futures and swap agreements), futures, swap agreements (including, interest rate, total return and credit default swaps), credit-linked securities and structured investments. All of these derivatives may be used for risk management purposes, such as hedging against a specific security, or to manage or adjust the risk profile of the Fund. In addition, all of the derivative instruments listed above may be used for investment (non-hedging) purposes to earn income; to enhance returns; to replace more traditional direct investments; to obtain exposure to certain markets; to establish net short positions in individual sectors, markets or securities; or to adjust the Fund's portfolio duration.

Management process

The Advisor employs a disciplined investment process implementing three key decisions: duration/yield curve positioning (i.e., interest rate forecasting and maturity allocation), sector allocation and security selection. Duration decisions are generally based on evaluation and analysis of monetary policy, level of economic activity, inflation, real estate rates, market psychology and other macroeconomic factors. UBS AM's sector allocation strategy examines relative value by analyzing historical valuations, current fundamentals, and future trends through in-depth research. Once the relationships between these sectors have been established, the final decision of security selection is made by portfolio managers with substantial input from the UBS AM municipal credit team, which constantly monitors the municipal market.