Low/Moderate

Low/moderate represents low credit quality relative to moderate 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.