• Spread sectors continued to rally as investors focused more on opportunities than on risks.
• The Fed maintained its stance, but new questions emerged about how much further influence the central bank can exert.
• With tax rates fixed for the near term, policymakers turned their attention to spending cuts.
• Despite tighter valuations in corporate credit, we foresee continued solid demand and fundamentals.
1. Putnam’s outlook
Arrows in the table indicate the change
from the previous quarter.
Underweight
Smallunderweight
Neutral
Smalloverweight
Overweight
Fixed-income asset class
U.S. government and agency debt l
U.S. tax exempt l
Tax-exempt high yield l
Agency mortgage-backed securities l
Collateralized mortgage obligations l
Non-agency residential
mortgage-backed securities
l
Commercial mortgage-backed securities l
U.S. floating-rate bank loans l
U.S. investment-grade corporates l
Global high yield l
Emerging markets l
U.K. government l
Eurozone government l
Japan government l
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT
Dollar vs. yen: Dollar
Dollar vs. euro: Neutral
Dollar vs. pound: Dollar
Spread sectors continued to rally
as investors focused more on
opportunities rather than risks
Risk assets in the first quarter continued
their momentum from the final weeks of
2012, posting solid gains across a number
of markets and asset classes. This is not to
suggest it was an uneventful period: January
began with a last-minute tax deal to raise
federal rates on top earners and avoid the
across-the-board hikes outlined in the fiscal
cliff. In March, after political brinkmanship
from both sides of the aisle failed to result
in a deal, the automatic sequestration cuts
began to take effect, representing a reduction
in federal spending of $85 billion in 2013, or
about 2.2%.
Political rhetoric aside, the general
economic consensus is that the reduction in
spending will have a mild negative impact on
GDP; our own estimates call for a negative
impact of somewhere between 0.50% and
0.75% in 2013. That said, our base-case fore-
cast calls for continued GDP growth in 2013
and marginal improvement over last year’s
2.2% growth.
Outside the United States, Europe
reclaimed headlines after Italy’s elections
failed to produce a majority government
and Cyprus’s banking system, teetering on
the brink of collapse, agreed to a substantial
restructuring and EU bailout. These events
were generally understood to be negative
developments on the world stage, but we
believe the muted market reaction is telling.
Key takeaways
• Spread sectors continued to rally as investors focused more
on opportunities than on risks.
• The Fed maintained its stance, but new questions emerged
about how much further influence the central bank can exert.
• With tax rates fixed for the near term, policymakers turned
their attention to spending cuts.
• Despite tighter valuations in corporate credit, we foresee
continued solid demand and fundamentals.
Fixed-Income Outlook
April 2013 » Putnam Perspectives
2. 2
APRIL 2013 | Fixed-Income Outlook
As recently as a year ago, such developments would
have been much more likely to spark a widespread selloff,
with a concurrent flight to U.S. Treasuries — a pattern that
markets experienced often during the past few years. The
fact that investors have remained more focused on longer-
term opportunities rather than the short-term news cycle
suggests to us that they are much more attuned to the
potential opportunity costs of remaining on the sidelines.
To that end, we’ve seen significant outflows from cash
investments in recent months as investors moved back
into equities and continued to allocate to fixed-income
spread sectors, many of which have been experiencing
substantial inflows for some time. We believe this type
of environment — one in which declining interest rates
are not the primary driver of returns and the risk-on/
risk-off trade does not overshadow fundamentals in the
market — provides an abundance of opportunities for
active managers. We believe our holistic, bottom-up
approach to securities, sectors, rates, and currencies
positions Putnam well for the market environment that
we now see unfolding.
The Federal Reserve maintained its
commitment to easy money given a weak labor
market and benign inflation projections
Following the March Federal Open Market Committee
(FOMC) meeting, Chairman Ben Bernanke reaffirmed
the central bank’s commitment to easy money. Late last
year, the Fed launched the much-anticipated “QE3” and
replaced the expiring “Operation Twist” in December with
another round of targeted Treasury purchases. In all, the
Fed is currently purchasing $85 billion a month in agency
mortgage-backed securities and intermediate- and long-
term Treasuries. Both sets of purchases are being made
with newly created money, so investors have been more
mindful in recent months of the potential for higher infla-
tion, which has to date been relatively benign.
Figure 1: Risk assets continued rally to begin 2013
-2%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
1Q 134Q 12
Japan
gov’t
Eurozone
gov’t
U.K.
gov’t
Emerging-
market
debt
Global
high
yield
U.S.
investment-
grade
corporate
debt
U.S.
floating-
rate
bankloans
Commercial
mortgage-
backed
securities
Agency
mortgage-
backed
securities
Tax-
exempt
high
yield
U.S.
tax
exempt
U.S.
government
andagency
debt
Source: Putnam research, as of 3/28/13. Past performance is not indicative of future results. See page 11 for index definitions.
Japanese debt and high
yield led the market, while
emerging-market and
eurozone debt lagged.
3. PUTNAM INVESTMENTS | putnam.com
3
The Fed had also recently introduced specific bench-
marks into its statements, indicating it would continue its
current policies as long as unemployment remains above
6.5%, one- to two-year inflation projections remain no
more than a half percentage point above the 2% longer-
run goal, and longer-term inflation expectations continue
to be “well anchored.” While the most recent unemploy-
ment reading registered at 7.7% — the lowest level in the
past four years — the Fed said it does not expect to reach
its target rate until sometime in 2015.
Nonetheless, since July 2012, when yields on the
benchmark 10-year Treasury fell to a low of 1.43%,
rates have climbed steadily higher on the long end of
the curve, hitting 2.07% for 10-year Treasuries in early
March. In absolute terms, 60 basis points is a fairly small
movement, but it is worth noting that it represents a
jump of more than 40% from last year’s lows. To be sure,
some of that movement is attributable to improving
investor sentiment about the health of the economy,
particularly in 2013. In addition, the Fed’s easing policies
are by definition inflationary, although we believe the
recent rate movements do not necessarily suggest a
perception of higher levels of inflation over the near term,
given the lack of concurrent movements in the Treasury
inflation-protected securities (TIPS) market. Rather, we
tend to believe that some of the interest-rate volatility
of the past few months is more a product of investors’
concern that the Fed’s ability to influence long-term rates
with purchase programs is beginning to wane. This worry
has been a staple of every QE program that the Fed has
unveiled, and while we do not share the concern that the
Fed may be “out of ammunition,” we certainly do not
believe that interest-rate risk is attractively priced.
To that end, we have sought to mitigate interest-rate
volatility in our portfolios for several quarters. As long
as the Fed continues injecting liquidity into the financial
system through targeted bond purchases, we do not
believe that interest rates will climb significantly higher
than where they are today. We also believe a strategy that
relies on rates declining further to drive performance is a
recipe for trouble in this kind of a potentially range-bound
and volatile interest-rate environment, and we continue to
implement a relative underweight position in interest-rate
risk across our portfolios.
Opportunities appear abundant in global
bond markets, but require a bottom-up,
security-level approach
Our outlook for international bond markets on the whole
remains largely unchanged from three months earlier.
While there exist myriad opportunities for establishing
positions on the direction or magnitude of interest-rate
movements, on the shape and slope of the yield curve, or
on currency exchange rates, we do not believe there are
many opportunities that suggest large, top-down, passive
allocations. This kind of market environment is one in which
we believe Putnam’s skill set is particularly well suited.
To that end, we have been pursuing targeted opportu-
nities in Europe, including in both peripheral countries like
Italy, Spain, and Greece, and in the dominant economies
of France and Germany. This is not to say that we believe
Europe is poised for a sharp rebound. As the recent devel-
opments in Cyprus have illustrated, Europe continues
to muddle through its structural challenges. That said,
investors’ fears over a possible collapse of the European
Monetary Union or of a widespread contagion of the
developed-market financial system have largely abated.
This renewed — and, in our view, justified — outlook for
slow and steady progress in Europe has helped Spanish
sovereign debt post gains over the first quarter while
yields in Italian debt were relatively stable. Putnam
portfolios have been mostly tactical in their European
allocations, but the common theme generally has been to
seek to establish positions in those areas that we believe
have been oversold or unrealistically priced after the
market volatility of the past two years.
While the Fed’s easing policies are, by definition, inflationary, we believe the recent
rate movements do not suggest a perception of higher near-term inflation.
4. 4
APRIL 2013 | Fixed-Income Outlook
Our outlook for emerging-market debt in 2013, mean-
while, also is largely unchanged. The fundamentals in
many emerging economies remain attractive, with solid
housing markets and financial sectors, as well as low debt
loads in many countries. However, as we have discussed
before, we believe the global economic environment
today is a less favorable one for developing markets to
compete in for capital. Emerging-market sovereign debt
is much more reliant on foreign capital and today, with
heightened volatility and uncertainty in the developed
markets, we believe investors should be wary of how
stable those flows into emerging markets are likely to
be. Spreads today — which reflect the yield advantage
offered by the asset class — are tighter than their historical
norm, although we are cautious about how much stock to
put in backward-looking comparisons when discussing
emerging markets. Many emerging markets, while facing a
challenging environment today, are clearly in much better
financial condition than they were 10–15 years ago, and
that fact alone may be enough to warrant tighter-than-
normal spreads. Ultimately, we believe that today’s less
attractive valuations and uncertain macro environment
suggest that investing in emerging-market debt requires
careful security-level analysis, and that a passive alloca-
tion to the asset class remains a risky proposition.
Figure 2. Interest rates crept higher on the
long end of the curve
0%
1%
2%
3%
12/31/12
3/28/13
30
years
20
years
10
years
7
years
5
years
3
years
1 year
1m
onth
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, as of 3/28/13.
Given current Fed policy, long-term
interest rates could experience
volatility over the foreseeable future.
5. PUTNAM INVESTMENTS | putnam.com
5
Figure 3. Current spreads relative to historical norms
n Average excess yield over Treasuries
(OAS, 1/1/98–12/31/07)
n Current excess yield over Treasuries
(OAS as of 3/28/13)
Housing market continued to make gains
in Q1, signaling a possible increase in banks’
willingness to lend
Single-family home prices continued to trend higher,
which has arguably been the most encouraging piece of
macroeconomic data in recent months. Based on first-
quarter results, the Case-Shiller Index is on track for gains
in the low teens for 2013. And, of course, while we cannot
guarantee performance, our own internal estimates call
for national housing gains in the mid-single digits for 2013
and 2014. Under either scenario, the improvements are
welcome news in an economy still struggling with persis-
tent high unemployment and a less-than-stable outlook
for consumer spending.
While it is difficult to put a precise figure to the activity,
a good portion of these gains has stemmed from new
investors entering the market, including a number of
financial institutions and hedge funds, to turn former
primary residences into rental properties. Rental yields
in many markets are running at 10% or higher and, when
coupled with the potential gains from the appreciation of
the property, many investors have found the combination
too attractive to pass up.
Sources: Barclays, Putnam, as of 3/28/13.
Data are provided for informational use only. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All spreads are in basis points and measure option-
adjusted yield spread relative to comparable maturity U.S. Treasuries with the exception of non-agency RMBS, which are loss-adjusted spreads to
swaps calculated using Putnam’s projected assumptions on defaults and severities, and agency IO, which is calculated using assumptions derived
from Putnam’s proprietary prepayment model. Agencies are represented by Barclays U.S. Agency Index. Agency MBS are represented by Barclays
U.S. Mortgage Backed Securities Index. Investment-grade corporates are represented by Barclays U.S. Corporate Index. High yield is represented by
Barclays U.S. Corporate High Yield Index. AAA CMBS are represented by the Aaa portion of Barclays Investment Grade CMBS Index. EMD is repre-
sented by Barclays Global Emerging Markets Index. Non-agency is estimated using average market level of a sample of below-investment-grade
securities backed by Alt-A collateral. Agency IO is estimated from a basket of Putnam-monitored interest-only securities. Option-adjusted spread
(OAS) measures the yield spread over duration equivalent Treasuries for securities with different embedded options.
56
130
89
511
123
150
425
34 30
60
0
200
400
600
450
700
350
200
287
457
115
139
EMDAgency IONon-agency
RMBS
High yieldAAA CMBSInvestment-grade
corporates
Agency
MBS
Agencies
56
130
89
511
123
150
425
34 30
60
0
200
400
600
450
700
350
200
287
457
115
139
EMDAgency IONon-agency
RMBS
High yieldAAA CMBSInvestment-grade
corporates
Agency
MBS
Agencies
Spreads across a
number of sectors are
today in line with their
historical averages.
6. 6
APRIL 2013 | Fixed-Income Outlook
In our multi-sector portfolios, we have continued to
implement our strategy of investing in both non-agency
residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) and
interest-only agency collateralized mortgage obligations
(CMO IOs). As we have discussed before, non-agency
RMBS tend to benefit from improving housing funda-
mentals, which have been picking up throughout the past
year, and have really begun to gather steam over the past
six months. Agency CMO IOs, on the other hand, tend to
benefit in an environment where refinancing is challenging
for mortgage-holders, which has certainly been the case
for at least the past two years.
With home prices improving across the country and
bank lending standards beginning to loosen, however,
we are taking a more neutral view on the agency CMO
IO market. We continue to find it to be an attractive
segment of the market, but believe it no longer warrants
as substantial an allocation as it did a year ago. For that
reason, we are taking more of a balanced approach.
The commercial mortgage market, lastly, continued
to post gains, and our funds generally hold modest allo-
cations to the sector. The retail space sector has posted
solid gains in recent months, although we do harbor
some concerns over the competitiveness of “brick and
mortar” businesses in this economy. With consumer
spending still under pressure and consumers particularly
cost conscious, online retailers have been performing
quite well. It remains to be seen whether and how this
translates to the CMBS market. The office space segment,
as we have discussed before, continues to show some
signs of weakness, with many corporations maintaining
leaner headcounts in the post-2008 environment, which
translates into more muted demand. Overall, our outlook
for CMBS calls for continued improvements along with
the broader economy, and we believe a bottom-up,
security-specific approach is more prudent than a blanket
allocation to the asset class.
Figure 4. Spread sectors’ excess returns over Treasuries
-0.1%
0.0%
0.1%
0.2%
0.3%
0.4%
U.S. agencyMBSCorporatesCMBSABS
Source: Barclays, as of 3/28/13. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Negative Treasury
returns underscored
the dangers of a long-
duration strategy.
7. PUTNAM INVESTMENTS | putnam.com
7
Spreads continued to tighten in corporate debt,
while fundamentals remain compelling
Corporate debt continued to perform well in the first
quarter with high-yield and floating-rate debt outpacing
the investment-grade sector. As of the end of March,
spreads in the high-yield market were slightly lower than
their long-term average, finishing the quarter at 5.02%.
While valuations aren’t as attractive as they were a year
ago, we believe that there is still much that makes the
asset class attractive, and that spreads could continue to
tighten further. As a reminder, spreads measure the yield
advantage corporate debt offers over similarly dated
Treasuries, and tightening spreads is typically a good
thing for existing bondholders. Prior to the 2008 credit
crisis, spreads in the high-yield market had tightened to
about 2.5% over Treasuries, so we believe there is ample
precedent for spreads tighter than the current 502 basis
points. Moreover, the high-yield companies in the market
today are significantly stronger than those of the universe
of five or ten years ago specifically because the credit
crisis forced so many of the weakest companies out of
business. The default rate today — at around 1.24% —
remains well below its long-term historical average, which
is roughly 4.3%.
The other factor that we find compelling is the scarcity
of yield in the fixed-income market. Investors who may
not have been high-yield investors in previous years have
been forced to reconsider the asset class with so few
other income-producing options available. Case in point,
throughout 2012, flows into the high-yield and floating-
rate segments of the market were exceptionally strong,
and while 2013 is unlikely to be another record-setting
year, we don’t foresee a dramatic decline in demand.
Floating-rate debt, meanwhile, has benefited from
many of the same trends we have seen at work in the
high-yield space, but has the added benefit of helping
to insulate investors from the adverse effects of rising
Figure 5. High-yield spreads and defaults generally
move in tandem over credit cycles
0
4
8
12
16
20%
0
400
800
1200
1600
2000
’11 ’12 3/31/13’10’09’08’07’06’05’04’03’02’01’00’99’98’97’96’95’94’93’92’91’90’89’88’87
Defaultrate
Spreads(bps)
1990–91
recession
2001
recession
2007–09
recession
Current spread: 502 bps (as of 3/31/13)
20-year median spread: 536 bps
Average default rate: 4.3%
Today, the gap between spreads
and defaults remains wide, signaling
opportunity for investors
High-yield default rate
Spread to worst
Sources: JPMorgan, High Yield Market Monitor, 4/1/13. A basis point (bp) is one-hundredth of a percent. One hundred basis points equals one percent.
Spread to worst measures the difference between the best- and worst-performing yields in two asset classes.
Below-average defaults
and strong fundamentals
suggest that spreads could
potentially tighten further.
8. 8
APRIL 2013 | Fixed-Income Outlook
Figure 6: Municipal bond credit spreads have
narrowed, but still remain attractive
Municipal bond spreads by quality rating
0
100
200
300
400
500
BBB
A
AA
201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999
Sources: Putnam, as of 3/28/13. Credit ratings are as determined by Putnam.
The most attractive relative values
appear to be in the BBB-rated
segment of the muni market.
interest rates. By definition, the interest payments on
floating-rate notes reset periodically as short-term
interest rates change. While the outlook for the foresee-
able future for short-term rates is fairly stable, the asset
class also offers investors protection from volatility in
longer-term rates beyond what the high-yield asset class
offers. There is reason to believe that investors have taken
note, and that this particular feature of the asset class has
become more attractive over the past several months.
Finally, our outlook for investment-grade corporate
debt is somewhat more cautious. To be sure, the financial
health of corporations in the investment-grade space
continues to be quite strong. However, in a slow-growth
macroeconomic environment, we believe it will prove
challenging for corporations to continue to improve their
margins and increase their revenues. The risk, we feel,
is not so much one of potentially deteriorating funda-
mentals, but of investment-grade corporate debt having
reached something of a plateau. For those reasons,
we generally prefer the opportunities in high yield and
floating rate in our multi-sector portfolios.
9. PUTNAM INVESTMENTS | putnam.com
9
Municipal bond investors gained clarity on
tax rates, but a number of key policy issues
remain unresolved
It is no surprise that for many months now the focal point
for many discussions about municipal bonds has been
federal policy and the potential risks entailed. By way
of background, on January 1, 2013, Congress enacted a
last-minute tax deal to raise rates on top earners while
preserving existing brackets for most other taxpayers.
While the new higher rates for top earners has likely
bolstered demand for municipal bonds by making their
taxable equivalent yields that much more attractive, the
correlation between tax rates and demand is never one
to one. Taxes are one factor among many that inves-
tors consider when weighing their options for their
fixed-income portfolios and, to that end, the question of
whether the income from municipal bonds will remain
fully tax free is still unsettled.
One potential outcome in a “grand bargain” on tax
reform would cap the level of municipal bond interest
that can be claimed tax free, possibly at 28%. While we
are skeptical of the prospects for any further significant
tax reform under a divided Congress, and believe this
particular outcome is unlikely, we do believe it remains
a possibility. We believe it is highly likely, however, that
changes to the tax treatment of municipal bonds will
continue to be floated in any negotiations about tax
reform, so some short-term headline risk does exist.
We are monitoring the situation closely.
Beyond the issue of taxes, since January, much of the
talk from the political class has revolved around seques-
tration, the other half of the fiscal cliff that mandated
2% across-the-board spending cuts. While the political
rhetoric associated with those cuts often has painted
them as catastrophic, we believe the fallout for most
states is likely to be fairly benign. The cuts certainly won’t
be beneficial for states and local communities, but we
believe the effects will not be extremely widespread and
the impact will be staggered over time. Sectors and locali-
ties that benefit most from federal support and areas that
are heavily reliant on military and defense spending are
the most likely to be negatively affected, we believe. But
at this point, it is difficult to quantify exactly how seques-
tration will impact states’ finances. The ultimate impact
will depend on how well these states have prepared and
budgeted for the sequestration cuts.
In terms of positioning, we continue to favor essen-
tial service revenue bonds over local general obligation
bonds. The BBB-rated segment of the curve continues to
offer attractive relative value opportunities, in our analysis,
and in terms of maturities, we find 10 to 15 years to be the
optimal part of the yield curve in today’s environment. For
several months now, we have maintained a cash weighting
in our portfolios that is slightly higher than normal, which
has helped to offset some of the recent interest-rate vola-
tility. We anticipate maintaining that stance through the
spring, which tends to begin as a seasonally slower period
for new issuance, and which will allow us a greater degree
of flexibility as issuance picks back up in the summer
months, as historically has been the case.
Overall, we maintain our constructive outlook for
municipal bonds, though we believe that returns in 2013
will be less about price appreciation and more about
coupon income in the tax-exempt market. While spreads
are much narrower than they were at their peak, they
remain attractive in certain credit-quality buckets, in
our opinion. Although they were a little softer in March,
technical factors in the market also have been decent —
specifically, continued refunding activity and solid investor
demand — and we believe that technicals should remain
supportive in 2013. While investors now have more near-
term certainty on tax rates for 2013, there is still much
to be resolved, including federal budget sequestration,
the debt ceiling, and the potential for broader tax reform
during the year, all of which could affect the value of
municipal bonds. As always, we are monitoring the
situation closely and positioning the funds accordingly.
While we are skeptical of the prospects for any further
significant tax reform under a divided Congress, a cap on
municipal bonds’ tax-exempt income remains a possibility.
10. 10
APRIL 2013 | Fixed-Income Outlook
U.S. dollar gained appeal as investors continued to
move off the sidelines and into risk assets
On the currency front, our multi-sector portfolios continue to hold
a bias to the U.S. dollar, which generally has helped performance
in recent months. For much of 2012, the U.S. dollar benefited from
recurring flights to quality as investors rushed into Treasuries amid
any signs of market turbulence. While the risk-on/risk-off mentality
has been much less pervasive over the past several months, the
U.S. dollar has continued to benefit as investors have regained their
risk appetites. The United States was one of the first developed
countries to attempt to clean up the damage in its banking sector in
the wake of the financial crisis, while corporations aggressively cut
costs and shored up balance sheets. As a result, the United States is
in a position today to attract risk capital in a way that makes it much
more compelling, in our opinion, than many of the other options
available in the developed world.
One of the consequences of a strengthening U.S. dollar is often a
weakening of currencies tied to commodity prices. For that reason,
we have been more cautious in recent months on emerging-market
currencies in general, and have focused more on those countries
that are more resilient to a possible slowdown in capital flows,
including Mexico, Chile, Thailand, and the Philippines.
Agencymortgage-backedsecurities are represented by the Barclays U.S. Mortgage
Backed Securities Index, which covers agency mortgage-backed pass-through
securities (both fixed-rate and hybrid ARM) issued by Ginnie Mae (GNMA), Fannie Mae
(FNMA), and Freddie Mac (FHLMC).
Commercialmortgage-backedsecurities are represented by the Barclays U.S. CMBS
Investment Grade Index, which measures the market of commercial mortgage-backed
securities with a minimum deal size of $500 million. The two subcomponents of the
U.S. CMBS Investment Grade Index are the U.S. aggregate-eligible securities and
non-eligible securities. To be included in the U.S. Aggregate Index, the securities must
meet the guidelines for ERISA eligibility.
Emerging-marketdebt is represented by the JPMorgan Emerging Markets Global
Diversified Index, which is composed of U.S. dollar-denominated Brady bonds,
eurobonds, traded loans, and local market debt instruments issued by sovereign and
quasi-sovereign entities.
Eurozonegovernment is represented by the Barclays Pan European Aggregate Bond
Index, which tracks fixed-rate, investment-grade securities issued in the following
European currencies: euro, British pound, Norwegian krone, Danish krone, Swedish
krona, Czech koruna, Hungarian forint, Polish zloty, and Swiss franc.
Globalhighyield is represented by the JPMorgan Global High Yield Index, an
unmanaged index of global high-yield fixed-income securities.
Japangovernment is represented by the Barclays Japanese Aggregate Bond Index,
a broad-based investment-grade benchmark consisting of fixed-rate Japanese
yen-denominated securities.
Tax-exempthighyield is represented by the Barclays Municipal Bond High Yield
Index, which consists of below-investment-grade or unrated bonds with outstanding
par values of at least $3 million and at least one year remaining until their maturity
dates.
U.K.government is represented by the Barclays Sterling Aggregate Bond Index, which
contains fixed-rate, investment-grade, sterling-denominated securities, including gilt
and non-gilt bonds.
U.S.floating-ratebankloans are represented by the SP/LSTA Leveraged Loan
Index, an unmanaged index of U.S. leveraged loans.
U.S.governmentandagencydebt is represented by the Barclays U.S. Aggregate
Bond Index, an unmanaged index of U.S. investment-grade fixed-income securities.
U.S.investment-gradecorporatedebt is represented by the Barclays U.S. Corporate
Index, a broad-based benchmark that measures the U.S. taxable investment-grade
corporate bond market.
U.S.taxexempt is represented by the Barclays Municipal Bond Index, an unmanaged
index of long-term fixed-rate investment-grade tax-exempt bonds.
You cannot invest directly in an index.
11. PUTNAM INVESTMENTS | putnam.com
11
Putnam’s veteran fixed-income
team offers a depth and breadth
of insight
Successful investing in today’s markets requires
a broad-based approach, the flexibility to exploit
a range of sectors and investment opportunities,
and a keen understanding of the complex
global interrelationships that drive the markets.
That is why Putnam has more than 70 fixed-
income professionals focusing on delivering
comprehensive coverage of every aspect of the
fixed-income markets, based not only on sector,
but also on the broad sources of risk — and
opportunities — most likely to drive returns.
D. William Kohli
Co-Head of Fixed Income
Global Strategies
Investing since 1987
Joined Putnam in 1994
Michael V. Salm
Co-Head of Fixed Income
Liquid Markets and Securitized Products
Investing since 1989
Joined Putnam in 1997
Paul D. Scanlon, CFA
Co-Head of Fixed Income
Global Credit
Investing since 1986
Joined Putnam in 1999
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