High/Extensive

High/extensive represents high credit quality relative to extensive interest rate risk.

The fixed-income model is based on the two pillars of fixed-income performance: credit quality and interest-rate sensitivity, measured by duration. The three credit-quality groups are high, medium, and low, and the interest-rate sensitivity groups are limited (short duration), moderate (intermediate duration), and extensive (long duration). These groupings display a portfolio's effective duration and credit quality to provide an overall representation of a fund's risk, given the length and quality of bonds in its portfolio.

As with equity funds, nine possible combinations exist, ranging from short duration/high quality for the safest funds to long duration/low quality for the riskiest. It is important to note that fixed-income style data is useful for evaluating only the bond portions of a fund's portfolio.