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Dec. 31, 2022
Dec. 31, 2021
Dec. 31, 2020
Dec. 31, 2019
Dec. 31, 2018
Cover [Abstract]          
Entity Central Index Key 0001170311        
Amendment Flag false        
Document Type N-CSR        
Entity Registrant Name PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund II        
Financial Highlights [Abstract]          
Senior Securities [Table Text Block]
Ratios/Supplemental Data
    ARPS     RVMTP(5)  
Selected Per Share Data for the Year or Period
Ended^:
  Total Amount
Outstanding
    Asset Coverage per
Preferred Share(1)
    Involuntary
Liquidating
Preference per
Preferred Share(2)
    Average
Market Value
per ARPS(3)
   
Total Amount
Outstanding
    Asset Coverage per
Preferred Share(1)
    Involuntary
Liquidating
Preference per
Preferred Share(2)
    Average
Market Value
per RVMTP(4)
 
PIMCO Municipal Income Fund
               
12/31/2022   $   166,700,000     $   58,598     $   25,000       N/A     $   18,200,000     $   234,390     $   100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     166,700,000       70,665       25,000       N/A       23,300,000       282,660       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     166,700,000       70,133       25,000       N/A       23,300,000       280,530       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     166,700,000       70,395       25,000       N/A       23,300,000       281,580       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     166,700,000       66,868       25,000       N/A       23,300,000       267,440       100,000       N/A  
PIMCO Municipal Income Fund II
               
12/31/2022   $ 298,275,000     $ 64,345     $ 25,000       N/A     $ 68,700,000     $ 257,380     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     298,275,000       78,363       25,000       N/A       68,700,000       313,450       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     298,275,000       78,293       25,000       N/A       68,700,000       313,170       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     298,275,000       78,308       25,000       N/A       68,700,000       313,230       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     298,275,000       74,285       25,000       N/A       68,700,000       297,110       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2017+     367,000,000       76,136       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2016+     367,000,000       74,548       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
6/1/2015 ‑ 12/31/2015(h)+     367,000,000       76,782       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
5/31/2015+     367,000,000       75,553       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
5/31/2014+     367,000,000       74,733       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
5/31/2013+     367,000,000       75,501       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
PIMCO Municipal Income Fund III
               
12/31/2022   $ 154,700,000     $ 60,383     $ 25,000       N/A     $ 34,300,000     $ 241,530     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     154,700,000       75,200       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       300,800       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     154,700,000       74,833       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       299,330       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     154,700,000       74,565       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       298,260       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     154,700,000       70,693       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       282,740       100,000       N/A  
PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund
               
12/31/2022   $ 120,625,000     $ 58,655     $ 25,000       N/A     $ 24,400,000     $ 234,620     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     120,625,000       69,408       25,000       N/A       29,300,000       277,630       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     120,625,000       69,948       25,000       N/A       29,300,000       279,790       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     120,625,000       69,580       25,000       N/A       29,300,000       278,320       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     120,625,000       66,725       25,000       N/A       29,300,000       266,870       100,000       N/A  
PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund II
               
12/31/2022   $ 128,675,000     $ 58,680     $ 25,000       N/A     $ 27,500,000     $ 234,720     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     128,675,000       69,970       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       279,880       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     128,675,000       70,035       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       280,140       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     128,675,000       69,188       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       276,750       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     128,675,000       65,675       25,000       N/A       34,300,000       262,670       100,000       N/A  
PIMCO California Municipal Income Fund III
               
12/31/2022   $ 97,875,000     $ 59,578     $ 25,000       N/A     $ 27,100,000     $ 238,310     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     97,875,000       70,755       25,000       N/A       27,100,000       283,020       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     97,875,000       71,063       25,000       N/A       27,100,000       284,250       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     97,875,000       70,545       25,000       N/A       27,100,000       282,180       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     97,875,000       67,188       25,000       N/A       27,100,000       268,720       100,000       N/A  
PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund
               
12/31/2022   $ 41,025,000     $ 66,640     $ 25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     41,025,000       83,005       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     41,025,000       82,318       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     41,025,000       82,875       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     41,025,000       78,545       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
    ARPS     RVMTP(5)  
Selected Per Share Data for the Year or Period
Ended^:
  Total Amount
Outstanding
    Asset Coverage per
Preferred Share(1)
    Involuntary
Liquidating
Preference per
Preferred Share(2)
    Average
Market Value
per ARPS(3)
   
Total Amount
Outstanding
    Asset Coverage per
Preferred Share(1)
    Involuntary
Liquidating
Preference per
Preferred Share(2)
    Average
Market Value
per RVMTP(4)
 
PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund II
               
12/31/2022   $ 58,000,000     $ 56,845     $ 25,000       N/A     $ 14,900,000     $ 227,380     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     58,000,000       66,323       25,000       N/A       21,000,000       265,290       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     58,000,000       65,730       25,000       N/A       21,000,000       262,920       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     58,000,000       66,003       25,000       N/A       21,000,000       264,010       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     58,000,000       62,655       25,000       N/A       21,000,000       250,600       100,000       N/A  
PIMCO New York Municipal Income Fund III
               
12/31/2022   $ 29,450,000     $ 57,425     $ 25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A     $ 100,000       N/A  
12/31/2021     29,450,000       69,808       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2020     29,450,000       69,493       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2019     29,450,000       70,100       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
12/31/2018     29,450,000       66,985       25,000       N/A       N/A       N/A       100,000       N/A  
       
General Description of Registrant [Abstract]          
Investment Objectives and Practices [Text Block]
INVESTMENT OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES
The investment objective of each of PCQ, PCK and PZC is to provide current income exempt from federal and California income tax. The investment objective of each of PMF, PML and PMX is to provide current income exempt from federal income tax. The investment objective of PNF, PNI and PYN is to provide current income exempt from federal, New York State and New York City income tax. In pursuing each Fund’s investment objective, the Fund’s investment manager, Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (“PIMCO or the “Investment Manager”), also seeks to preserve and enhance the value of the Fund’s holdings relative to the municipal bond market generally, using proprietary analytical models that test and evaluate the sensitivity of those holdings to changes in interest rates and yield relationships. A Fund cannot assure you that it will achieve its investment objective, and you could lose all of your investment in the Fund.
Portfolio Management Strategies
Under normal circumstances, each of PCQ, PCK and PZC invests at least 90% of its net assets in municipal bonds which pay interest that, in the opinion of bond counsel to the issuer (or on the basis of other authority believed by PIMCO to be reliable), is exempt from regular federal and California income taxes (i.e., excluded from gross income for federal and California income tax purposes but not necessarily exempt from the federal alternative minimum tax (“California Municipal Bonds”)). Subject to its other investment policies, the Fund may invest up to 20% of its total assets in investments the interest from which is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax.
Under normal circumstances, each of PMF, PML and PMX invests at least 90% of its net assets in municipal bonds which pay interest that, in the opinion of bond counsel to the issuer (or on the basis of other authority believed by PIMCO to be reliable), is exempt from regular federal income taxes (i.e., excluded from gross income for federal income tax purposes but not necessarily exempt from the federal alternative minimum tax). Subject to its other investment policies, the Fund may invest up to 20% of its total assets in investments the interest from which is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax.
Under normal circumstances, each of PNF, PNI and PYN invests at least 90% of its net assets in municipal bonds which pay interest that, in the opinion of bond counsel to the issuer (or on the basis of other authority believed by PIMCO to be reliable) is exempt from regular federal, New York State and New York City income taxes (i.e., excluded from gross income for federal, New York State and New York City income tax purposes but not necessarily exempt from the federal
alternative minimum tax (“New York Municipal Bonds”)). Subject to its other investment policies, the Fund may invest up to 20% of its total assets in investments the interest from which is subject to the federal alternative minimum tax.
Each Fund invests at least 80% of its net assets in municipal bonds that are, at the time of purchase, rated “investment grade” by at least one of Moody’s Investors Service, Inc (“Moody’s”), S&P Global Ratings (“S&P”) or Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”), or unrated but determined by PIMCO to be of comparable quality. “Investment grade” means a rating, in the case of Moody’s, of Baa3 or higher, or in the case of S&P and Fitch, of BBB‑ or higher. Each Fund may invest up to 20% of its net assets in municipal bonds that are, at the time of investment, rated Ba or B or lower by Moody’s, BB or B or lower by S&P or Fitch or that are unrated but judged to be of comparable quality by PIMCO. These bonds are rated below investment grade and are commonly known as “high yield securities” or “junk bonds.” Bonds of below investment grade quality are regarded as having predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to capacity to pay interest and repay principal and are commonly referred to as “junk bonds.” Bonds in the lowest investment grade category may also be considered to possess some speculative characteristics. In the event that ratings services assign different ratings to the same security, PIMCO will use the highest rating as the credit rating for that security.
Each Fund’s investment in municipal bonds may be based on PIMCO’s belief that they have attractive yield and/or total return potential. Each Fund attempts to produce returns relative to the municipal bond market generally by prudent selection of municipal bonds. The Funds may invest in bonds associated with a particular municipal market sector (for example, electric utilities), issued by a particular municipal issuer, or having particular structural characteristics, that PIMCO believes may be undervalued. PIMCO may purchase such a bond for a Fund’s portfolio because it represents a market sector or issuer that PIMCO considers undervalued. For example, municipal bonds of particular types (e.g., hospital bonds, industrial revenue bonds or bonds issued by a particular municipal issuer) could be undervalued if there is a temporary excess of supply in that market sector, or because of a general decline in the market price of municipal bonds of the market sector for reasons that do not apply to the particular municipal bonds that are considered undervalued.
       
Risk Factors [Table Text Block] Principal Risks of the Funds
The information in this section is as of December 31, 2022.
The factors that are most likely to have a material effect on a particular Fund’s portfolio as a whole are called “principal risks.” Each Fund is subject to the principal risks indicated below, whether through direct investments, investment company investments or derivative positions. Each Fund may be subject to additional risks other than those identified and described below because the types of investments made by a Fund can change over time.
AMT Bonds Risk
Investments by the Funds in “AMT Bonds,” which are municipal securities that pay interest that is taxable under the federal alternative minimum tax applicable to noncorporate taxpayers, may expose the Funds to certain risks in addition to those typically associated with municipal bonds. Interest or principal on AMT Bonds paid out of current or anticipated revenues from a specific project or specific asset may be adversely impacted by declines in revenue from the project or asset. Declines in general business activity could also affect the economic viability of facilities that are the sole source of revenue to support AMT Bonds. In this regard, AMT Bonds may entail greater risks than general obligation municipal bonds. For shareholders subject to the federal alternative minimum tax, a portion of a Fund’s distributions may not be exempt from gross federal income, which may give rise to alternative minimum tax liability.
Anti-Takeover Provisions
Each Fund’s Amended and Restated Agreement and Declaration of Trust and Bylaws (collectively, the “Organizational Documents”), include provisions that could limit the ability of other entities or persons to acquire control of the Fund or to convert the Fund to open‑end status. These provisions in the Organizational Documents could have the effect of depriving the holders of the Fund’s common shares of beneficial interest (“Common Shares”) of opportunities to sell their Common Shares at a premium over the then-current market price of the Common Shares or at NAV.
Asset Allocation Risk
A Fund’s investment performance depends upon how its assets are allocated and reallocated. A principal risk of investing in a Fund is that PIMCO may make less than optimal or poor asset allocation decisions. PIMCO employs an active approach to allocation among multiple fixed-income sectors within a Fund’s investment objectives and strategies, but there is no guarantee that such allocation techniques will produce the desired results. It is possible that PIMCO will focus on an investment that performs poorly or underperforms other investments under various market conditions. You could lose money on your investment in a Fund as a result of these allocation decisions.
California State-Specific Risk
A Fund may invest in municipal bonds issued by or on behalf of the State of California and its political subdivisions, financing authorities and their agencies, and therefore may be affected significantly by political, economic, regulatory, social, environmental, or public health developments affecting the ability of California tax exempt issuers to pay interest or repay principal. Certain issuers of California municipal bonds have experienced serious financial difficulties in the past and reoccurrence of these difficulties may impair the ability of certain California issuers to pay principal or interest on their obligations.
Provisions of the California Constitution and State statutes which limit the taxing and spending authority of California governmental entities may impair the ability of California issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. While California’s economy is broad, it does have major concentrations in advanced technology, aerospace and defense-related manufacturing, trade, entertainment, real estate and financial services, and may be sensitive to economic problems affecting those industries. Future California political and economic developments, constitutional amendments, legislative measures, executive orders, administrative regulations, litigation and voter initiatives as well as environmental events, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics or social unrest could have an adverse effect on the debt obligations of California issuers.
Call Risk
Call risk refers to the possibility that an issuer may exercise its right to redeem a fixed income security earlier than expected (a call). Issuers may call outstanding securities prior to their maturity for a number of reasons (e.g., declining interest rates, changes in credit spreads and improvements in the issuer’s credit quality). If an issuer calls a security in which a Fund has invested, the Fund may not recoup the full amount of its initial investment and may be forced to reinvest in lower-yielding securities, securities with greater credit risks or securities with other, less favorable features.
Certain Affiliations
Certain broker-dealers may be considered to be affiliated persons of the Funds and/or the Investment Manager due to their possible affiliations with Allianz SE, the ultimate parent of the Investment Manager, or another Allianz entity. Allianz Asset Management of America LP (“AAM LP”) merged with Allianz Asset Management of America LLC (“AAM LLC”), with the latter being the surviving entity, effective January 1, 2023. Following the merger, AAM LLC is PIMCO LLC’s managing member and direct parent entity. Absent an exemption from the SEC or other regulatory relief, the Funds are generally precluded from effecting certain principal transactions with affiliated brokers, and its ability to purchase securities being underwritten by an affiliated broker or a syndicate including an
affiliated broker, or to utilize affiliated brokers for agency transactions, is subject to restrictions. This could limit the Fund’s ability to engage in securities transactions and take advantage of market opportunities.
PIMCO has applied for exemptive relief from the SEC that, if granted, would permit the Fund to, among other things, co‑invest with certain other persons, including certain affiliates of PIMCO and certain public or private funds managed by PIMCO and its affiliates, subject to certain terms and conditions. However, there is no assurance that such relief will be granted.
Confidential Information Access Risk
In managing the Fund (and other PIMCO clients), PIMCO may from time to time have the opportunity to receive material, non‑public information (“Confidential Information”) about the issuers of certain investments, including, without limitation, senior floating rate loans, other loans and related investments being considered for acquisition by the Fund or held in the Fund’s portfolio. For example, an issuer of privately placed loans considered by a Fund may offer to provide PIMCO with financial information and related documentation regarding the issuer that is not publicly available. Pursuant to applicable policies and procedures, PIMCO may (but is not required to) seek to avoid receipt of Confidential Information from the issuer so as to avoid possible restrictions on its ability to purchase and sell investments on behalf of the Fund and other clients to which such Confidential Information relates. In such circumstances, the Fund (and other PIMCO clients) may be disadvantaged in comparison to other investors, including with respect to the price the Fund pays or receives when it buys or sells an investment. Further, PIMCO’s and the Fund’s abilities to assess the desirability of proposed consents, waivers or amendments with respect to certain investments may be compromised if they are not privy to available Confidential Information. PIMCO may also determine to receive such Confidential Information in certain circumstances under its applicable policies and procedures. If PIMCO intentionally or unintentionally comes into possession of Confidential Information, it may be unable, potentially for a substantial period of time, to purchase or sell investments to which such Confidential Information relates.
Counterparty Risk
A Fund will be subject to credit risk with respect to the counterparties to the derivative contracts and other instruments entered into by the Fund or held by special purpose or structured vehicles in which the Fund invests. In the event that a Fund enters into a derivative transaction with a counterparty that subsequently becomes insolvent or becomes the subject of a bankruptcy case, the derivative transaction may be terminated in accordance with its terms and a Fund’s ability to realize its rights under the derivative instrument and its ability to distribute the proceeds could be adversely affected. If a
counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligations under a derivative contract due to financial difficulties, a Fund may experience significant delays in obtaining any recovery (including recovery of any collateral it has provided to the counterparty) in a dissolution, assignment for the benefit of creditors, liquidation, winding‑up, bankruptcy or other analogous proceeding. In addition, in the event of the insolvency of a counterparty to a derivative transaction, the derivative transaction would typically be terminated at its fair market value. If a Fund is owed this fair market value in the termination of the derivative transaction and its claim is unsecured, the Fund will be treated as a general creditor of such counterparty and will not have any claim with respect to any underlying security or asset. A Fund may obtain only a limited recovery or may obtain no recovery in such circumstances. While a Fund may seek to manage its counterparty risk by transacting with a number of counterparties, concerns about the solvency of, or a default by, one large market participant could lead to significant impairment of liquidity and other adverse consequences for other counterparties.
Credit Default Swaps Risk
Credit default swap agreements may involve greater risks than if a Fund had invested in the reference obligation directly since, in addition to general market risks, credit default swaps are subject to illiquidity risk, counterparty risk and credit risk. A buyer generally also will lose its investment and recover nothing should no credit event occur and the swap is held to its termination date. If a credit event were to occur, the value of any deliverable obligation received by the seller (if any), coupled with the upfront or periodic payments previously received, may be less than the full notional value it pays to the buyer, resulting in a loss of value to the seller. When a Fund acts as a seller of a credit default swap, it is exposed to many of the same risks of leverage described herein since if an event of default occurs, the seller must pay the buyer the full notional value of the reference obligation.
Although a Fund may seek to realize gains by selling credit default swaps that increase in value, to realize gains on selling credit default swaps, an active secondary market for such instruments must exist or the Fund must otherwise be able to close out these transactions at advantageous times. In addition to the risk of losses described above, if no such secondary market exists or a Fund is otherwise unable to close out these transactions at advantageous times, selling credit default swaps may not be profitable for the Fund.
The market for credit default swaps has become more volatile as the creditworthiness of certain counterparties has been questioned and/or downgraded. A Fund will be subject to credit risk with respect to the counterparties to the credit default swap contract (whether a clearing corporation or another third party). If a counterparty’s credit becomes significantly impaired, multiple requests for collateral posting in a
short period of time could increase the risk that the Fund may not receive adequate collateral. A Fund may exit its obligations under a credit default swap only by terminating the contract and paying applicable breakage fees, or by entering into an offsetting credit default swap position, which may cause the Fund to incur more losses.
Credit Risk
A Fund could lose money if the issuer or guarantor of a fixed income security (including a security purchased with securities lending collateral), or the counterparty to a derivatives contract, repurchase agreement or a loan of portfolio securities is unable or unwilling, or is perceived (whether by market participants, rating agencies, pricing services or otherwise) as unable or unwilling, to make timely principal and/or interest payments or to otherwise honor its obligations. The risk that such issuer, guarantor or counterparty is less willing or able to do so is heightened in market environments where interest rates are rising. The downgrade of the credit of a security held by a Fund may decrease its value. Measures such as average credit quality may not accurately reflect the true credit risk of the Fund. This is especially the case if the Fund consists of securities with widely varying credit ratings. Securities are subject to varying degrees of credit risk, which are often reflected in credit ratings. This risk is greater to the extent a Fund uses leverage or derivatives in connection with the management of the Fund. Municipal bonds are subject to the risk that litigation, legislation or other political events, local business or economic conditions, or the bankruptcy of the issuer could have a significant effect on an issuer’s ability to make payments of principal and/or interest.
Cybersecurity Risk
As the use of technology has become more prevalent in the course of business, the Funds have become potentially more susceptible to operational and information security risks resulting from breaches in cyber security. A breach in cyber security refers to both intentional and unintentional cyber events from outside threat actors or internal resources that may, among other things, cause a Fund to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption and/or destruction or lose operational capacity, result in the unauthorized release or other misuse of confidential information or otherwise disrupt normal business operations. Cyber security breaches may involve unauthorized access to a Fund’s digital information systems (e.g., through “hacking” or malicious software coding), and may come from multiple sources, including outside attacks such as denial‑of‑service attacks (i.e., efforts to make network services unavailable to intended users) or cyber extortion, including exfiltration of data held for ransom and/or “ransomware” attacks that renders systems inoperable until ransom is paid, or insider actions. In addition, cyber security breaches involving a Fund’s third party service providers (including but not limited to advisers, sub‑advisers, administrators, transfer agents, custodians,
vendors, suppliers, distributors and other third parties), trading counterparties or issuers in which a Fund invests can also subject the Fund to many of the same risks associated with direct cyber security breaches or extortion of company data. Moreover, cyber security breaches involving trading counterparties or issuers in which a Fund invests could adversely impact such counterparties or issuers and cause the Fund’s investments to lose value.
Cyber security failures or breaches may result in financial losses to a Fund and its shareholders. These failures or breaches may also result in disruptions to business operations, potentially resulting in financial losses; interference with a Fund’s ability to calculate its NAV, process shareholder transactions or otherwise transact business with shareholders; impediments to trading; violations of applicable privacy and other laws; regulatory fines; penalties; third party claims in litigation; reputational damage; reimbursement or other compensation costs; additional compliance and cyber security risk management costs and other adverse consequences. In addition, substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent any cyber incidents in the future.
Like with operational risk in general, the Funds have established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to reduce the risks associated with cyber security. However, there are inherent limitations in these plans and systems, including that certain risks may not have been identified, in large part because different or unknown threats may emerge in the future. As such, there is no guarantee that such efforts will succeed, especially because a Fund does not directly control the cyber security systems of issuers in which the Fund may invest, trading counterparties or third party service providers to the Fund. Such entities have experienced cyber attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access to systems from time to time, and there is no guarantee that efforts to prevent or mitigate the effects of such attacks or other attempts to gain unauthorized access will be successful. There is also a risk that cyber security breaches may not be detected. A Fund and its shareholders may suffer losses as a result of a cyber security breach related to the Fund, its service providers, trading counterparties or the issuers in which the Fund invests.
Derivatives Risk
The use of derivative instruments involves risks different from, or possibly greater than, the risks associated with investing directly in securities and other traditional investments. Derivatives are subject to a number of risks, including leverage risk, liquidity risk (which may be heightened for highly-customized derivatives), interest rate risk, market risk, credit risk, counterparty risk, tax risk, management risk, operational risk and legal risk as well as risks arising from changes in applicable requirements. They also involve the risk of mispricing, the risk of unfavorable or ambiguous documentation and the risk that
changes in the value of a derivative instrument may not correlate perfectly with the underlying asset, rate or index. If the Fund invests in a derivative instrument, a Fund could lose more than the amount invested and derivatives may increase the volatility of a Fund, especially in unusual or extreme market conditions. A Fund may be required to hold additional cash or sell other investments in order to obtain cash to close out a position and changes in the value of a derivative may also create margin delivery or settlement payment obligations for the Fund. Also, suitable derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances and there can be no assurance that a Fund will engage in these transactions to reduce exposure to other risks when that would be beneficial or that, if used, such strategies will be successful. The Fund’s use of derivatives may increase or accelerate the amount of taxes payable by Common Shareholders.
Over‑the‑counter (“OTC”) derivatives are also subject to the risk that a counterparty to the transaction will not fulfill its contractual obligations to the other party, as many of the protections afforded to centrally-cleared derivative transactions might not be available for OTC derivative transactions. For derivatives traded on an exchange or through a central counterparty, credit risk resides with a Fund’s clearing broker, or the clearinghouse itself, rather than with a counterparty in an OTC derivative transaction. The primary credit risk on derivatives that are exchange-traded or traded through a central clearing counterparty resides with a Fund’s clearing broker, or the clearinghouse itself.
Participation in the markets for derivative instruments involves investment risks and transaction costs to which a Fund may not be subject absent the use of these strategies. The skills needed to successfully execute derivative strategies may be different from those needed for other types of transactions. If a Fund incorrectly forecasts the value and/or creditworthiness of securities, currencies, interest rates, counterparties or other economic factors involved in a derivative transaction, the Fund might have been in a better position if the Fund had not entered into such derivative transaction. In evaluating the risks and contractual obligations associated with particular derivative instruments, it is important to consider that certain derivative transactions may be modified or terminated only by mutual consent of a Fund and its counterparty.
Therefore, it may not be possible for a Fund to modify, terminate, or offset the Fund’s obligations or the Fund’s exposure to the risks associated with a derivative transaction prior to its scheduled termination or maturity date, which may create a possibility of increased volatility and/or decreased liquidity to the Fund.
Because the markets for certain derivative instruments (including markets located in foreign countries) are relatively new and still
developing, appropriate derivative transactions may not be available in all circumstances for risk management or other purposes. Upon the expiration of a particular contract, a Fund may wish to retain the Fund’s position in the derivative instrument by entering into a similar contract but may be unable to do so if the counterparty to the original contract is unwilling to enter into the new contract and no other appropriate counterparty can be found. When such markets are unavailable, a Fund will be subject to increased liquidity and investment risk.
The Fund may enter into opposite sides of interest rate swap and other derivatives for the principal purpose of generating distributable gains on the one side (characterized as ordinary income for tax purposes) that are not part of the Fund’s duration or yield curve management strategies (“paired swap transactions”), and with a substantial possibility that the Fund will experience a corresponding capital loss and decline in NAV with respect to the opposite side transaction (to the extent it does not have corresponding offsetting capital gains).
Consequently, Common Shareholders may receive distributions and owe tax on amounts that are effectively a taxable return of the shareholder’s investment in the Fund, at a time when their investment in the Fund has declined in value, which tax may be at ordinary income rates. The tax treatment of certain derivatives in which the Fund invests may be unclear and thus subject to recharacterization.
Any recharacterization of payments made or received by the Fund pursuant to derivatives potentially could affect the amount, timing or character of Fund distributions. In addition, the tax treatment of such investment strategies may be changed by regulation or otherwise.
When a derivative is used as a hedge against a position that a Fund holds, any loss generated by the derivative generally should be substantially offset by gains on the hedged investment, and vice versa. Although hedging can reduce or eliminate losses, it can also reduce or eliminate gains. Hedges are sometimes subject to imperfect matching between the derivative and the underlying instrument, and there can be no assurance that a Fund’s hedging transactions will be effective. In such case, a Fund may lose money. The regulation of the derivatives markets has increased over the past several years, and additional future regulation of the derivatives markets may make derivatives more costly, may limit the availability or reduce the liquidity of derivatives or may otherwise adversely affect the value or performance of derivatives. Any such adverse future developments could impair the effectiveness or raise the costs of a Fund’s derivative transactions, impede the employment of a Fund’s derivatives strategies, or adversely affect a Fund’s performance and cause a Fund to lose value.
Distribution Rate Risk
Although the Funds may seek to maintain level distributions, a Fund’s distribution rates may be affected by numerous factors, including but not limited to changes in realized and projected market returns, fluctuations in market interest rates, Fund performance, and other factors. There can be no assurance that a change in market conditions or other factors will not result in a change in a Fund’s distribution rate or that the rate will be sustainable in the future.
For instance, during periods of low or declining interest rates, a Fund’s distributable income and dividend levels may decline for many reasons. For example, a Fund may have to deploy uninvested assets (whether from purchases of Fund shares, proceeds from matured, traded or called debt obligations or other sources) in new, lower yielding instruments. Additionally, payments from certain instruments that may be held by a Fund (such as variable and floating rate securities) may be negatively impacted by declining interest rates, which may also lead to a decline in the Fund’s distributable income and dividend levels.
Focused Investment Risk
Substantial exposure to municipal bonds of particular issuers, geographies and/or jurisdictions will result in susceptibility to political, economic, regulatory and other factors affecting issuers of such bonds, their ability to meet their obligations and the economic condition of the facility or specific revenue source from whose revenues payments of obligations may be made. The ability of state, county, or local governments or other issuers to meet their obligations will depend primarily on the availability of tax and other revenues to those entities. The amounts of tax and other revenues available to issuers may be affected from time to time by economic, political and demographic conditions that specifically impact such issuers. In addition, there are constitutional and statutory restrictions that limit the power of certain issuers to raise revenues or increase taxes. The availability of federal, state and local aid to issuers may also affect their ability to meet their obligations. The creditworthiness of obligations issued by local issuers within a given state may be unrelated to the creditworthiness of obligations issued by the state and there is no obligation on the part of the state to make payment on such local obligations in the event of default. Any reduction in the actual or perceived ability of an issuer to meet its obligations (including a reduction in the rating of its outstanding securities) would likely affect adversely the market value and marketability of its obligations and could adversely affect the values of other bonds as well. Moreover, in such circumstances, the value of the Fund’s shares may fluctuate more widely than the value of shares of a more diversified fund.
Many factors, including national economic, social and environmental policies and conditions, which are not within the control of issuers,
could affect or could have an adverse impact on the financial condition of the issuers. A Fund is unable to predict whether or to what extent such factors or other factors may affect issuers, the market value or marketability of such bonds or the ability of the respective issuers of the bonds acquired by the Fund to pay interest on or principal of such bonds.
High Yield Securities Risk
To the extent that a Fund invests in high yield securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality (commonly known as “high yield securities” or “junk bonds”), the Fund may be subject to greater levels of credit risk, call risk and liquidity risk than funds that do not invest in such securities, which could have a negative effect on the NAV and market price of the Fund’s Common Shares or Common Share dividends. These securities are considered predominantly speculative with respect to an issuer’s continuing ability to make principal and interest payments and may be more volatile than other types of securities. An economic downturn or individual corporate developments could adversely affect the market for these securities and reduce a Fund’s ability to sell these securities at an advantageous time or price. A Fund may purchase distressed securities that are in default or the issuers of which are in bankruptcy, which involve heightened risks.
Issuers of high yield securities may have the right to “call” or redeem the issue prior to maturity, which may result in a Fund having to reinvest the proceeds in other high yield securities or similar instruments that may pay lower interest rates. A Fund may also be subject to greater levels of liquidity risk than funds that do not invest in high yield securities. Consequently, transactions in high yield securities may involve greater costs than transactions in more actively traded securities. These factors may result in a Fund being unable to realize full value for these securities and/or may result in the Fund not receiving the proceeds from a sale of a high yield security for an extended period after such sale, each of which could result in losses to the Fund. Because of the risks involved in investing in high yield securities, an investment in a Fund should be considered speculative. To the extent that a Fund invests in high yield securities and unrated securities of similar credit quality (commonly known as “high yield securities” or “junk bonds”), a Fund may be subject to greater levels of credit risk, call risk and liquidity risk than funds that do not invest in such securities, which could have a negative effect on the NAV and market price of a Fund’s Common Shares or Common Share dividends. These securities are considered predominantly speculative with respect to an issuer’s continuing ability to make principal and interest payments, and may be more volatile than other types of securities. An economic downturn or individual corporate developments could adversely affect the market for these securities and reduce a Fund’s ability to sell these securities at an advantageous time or price. A Fund
may purchase distressed securities that are in default or the issuers of which are in bankruptcy, which involve heightened risks
In general, lower rated debt securities carry a greater degree of risk that the issuer will lose its ability to make interest and principal payments, which could have a negative effect on a Fund. Securities of below investment grade quality are regarded as having predominantly speculative characteristics with respect to capacity to pay interest and repay principal and are commonly referred to as “high yield” securities or “junk bonds.” High yield securities involve a greater risk of default, and their prices are generally more volatile and sensitive to actual or perceived negative developments. Debt securities in the lowest investment grade category also may be considered to possess some speculative characteristics by certain rating agencies. A Fund may purchase stressed or distressed securities that are in default or the issuers of which are in bankruptcy, which involve heightened risks.
An economic downturn could severely affect the ability of issuers (particularly those that are highly leveraged) to service or repay their debt obligations. Lower-rated securities are generally less liquid than higher-rated securities, which may have an adverse effect on a Fund’s ability to dispose of them. For example, under adverse market or economic conditions, the secondary market for below investment grade securities could contract further, independent of any specific adverse changes in the condition of a particular issuer, and certain securities in a Fund’s portfolio may become illiquid or less liquid. As a result, a Fund could find it more difficult to sell these securities or may be able to sell these securities only at prices lower than if such securities were widely traded. To the extent a Fund focuses on below investment grade debt obligations, PIMCO’s capabilities in analyzing credit quality and associated risks will be particularly important, and there can be no assurance that PIMCO will be successful in this regard. Due to the risks involved in investing in high yield securities, an investment in a Fund should be considered speculative
A Fund’s credit quality policies apply only at the time a security is purchased, and the Fund is not required to dispose of a security in the event that a rating agency or PIMCO downgrades its assessment of the credit characteristics of a particular issue. Analysis of creditworthiness may be more complex for issuers of high yield securities than for issuers of higher quality debt securities.
Illinois State-Specific Risk
A Fund may invest in municipal bonds issued by or on behalf of the State of Illinois and its political subdivisions, financing authorities and their agencies, and therefore may be affected significantly by political, economic, regulatory, social, environmental, or public health developments affecting the ability of Illinois issuers to pay interest or repay principal. Certain issuers of Illinois municipal bonds have
experienced serious financial difficulties in the past and reoccurrence of these difficulties may impair the ability of certain Illinois issuers to pay principal or interest on their obligations. Provisions of the Illinois Constitution and State statutes which limit the taxing and spending authority of Illinois governmental entities may impair the ability of Illinois issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. While Illinois’ economy is broad, it does have major concentrations in certain industries and may be sensitive to economic problems affecting those industries. Future Illinois political and economic developments, constitutional amendments, legislative measures, executive orders, administrative regulations, litigation and voter initiatives as well as environmental events, natural disasters, pandemics, epidemics or social unrest could have an adverse effect on the debt obligations of Illinois issuers.
Inflation/Deflation Risk
Inflation risk is the risk that the value of assets or income from a Fund’s investments will be worth less in the future as inflation decreases the value of payments at future dates. As inflation increases, the real value of a Fund’s portfolio could decline. Inflation has recently increased and it cannot be predicted whether it may decline. Deflation risk is the risk that prices throughout the economy decline over time. Deflation may have an adverse effect on the creditworthiness of issuers and may make issuer default more likely, which may result in a decline in the value of a Fund’s portfolio and Common Shares.
Insurance Risk
A Fund may purchase municipal securities that are secured by insurance, bank credit agreements or escrow accounts. The credit quality of the companies that provide such credit enhancements will affect the value of those securities. Certain significant providers of insurance for municipal securities have incurred significant losses as a result of exposure to sub‑prime mortgages and other lower credit quality investments that have experienced recent defaults or otherwise suffered extreme credit deterioration. As a result, such losses reduced the insurers’ capital and called into question their continued ability to perform their obligations under such insurance if they are called upon to do so in the future. If the insurer of a municipal security suffers a downgrade in its credit rating or the market discounts the value of the insurance provided by the insurer, the rating of the underlying municipal security may be more relevant and the value of the municipal security may more closely, if not entirely, reflect such rating. In such a case, the value of insurance associated with a municipal security may decline and may not add any value. The insurance feature of a municipal security does not guarantee the full payment of principal and interest through the life of an insured obligation, the market value of the insured obligation or the net asset value of the common shares represented by such insured obligation.
Interest Rate Risk
Interest rate risk is the risk that fixed income securities and other instruments in a Fund’s portfolio will fluctuate in value because of a change in interest rates. For example, as nominal interest rates rise, the value of certain fixed income securities held by a Fund is likely to decrease. A nominal interest rate can be described as the sum of a real interest rate and an expected inflation rate. Interest rate changes can be sudden and unpredictable, and a Fund may lose money as a result of movements in interest rates. A Fund may not be able to effectively hedge against changes in interest rates or may choose not to do so for cost or other reasons.
A wide variety of factors can cause interest rates or yields of U.S. Treasury securities (or yields of other types of bonds) to rise, including but not limited to central bank monetary policies, changing inflation or real growth rates, general economic conditions, increasing bond issuances or reduced market demand for low yielding investments. Recently, inflation levels have been at their highest point in nearly 40 years, and the Federal Reserve has begun an aggressive campaign to raise certain benchmark interest rates in an effort to combat inflation. During any periods of rising inflation, fixed income securities markets may experience heightened levels of interest rate, volatility and liquidity risk.
Fixed income securities with longer durations tend to be more sensitive to changes in interest rates, usually making them more volatile. Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates that incorporates a security’s yield, coupon, final maturity and call features, among other characteristics. Duration is useful primarily as a measure of the sensitivity of a fixed income security’s market price to interest rate (i.e., yield) movements. All other things remaining equal, for each one percentage point increase in interest rates, the value of a portfolio of fixed income investments would generally be expected to decline by one percent for every year of the portfolio’s average duration above zero. For example, the value of a portfolio of fixed income securities with an average duration of eight years would generally be expected to decline by approximately 8% if interest rates rose by one percentage point.
Variable and floating rate securities may decline in value if their interest rates do not rise as much, or as quickly, as interest rates in general.
Conversely, floating rate securities will not generally increase in value if interest rates decline. Inverse floating rate securities may decrease in value if interest rates increase. Inverse floating rate securities may also exhibit greater price volatility than a fixed rate obligation with similar credit quality. When a Fund holds variable or floating rate securities, a
decrease (or, in the case of inverse floating rate securities, an increase) in market interest rates will adversely affect the income received from such securities and the NAV of the Fund’s shares.
During periods of very low or negative interest rates, a Fund may be unable to maintain positive returns. Very low or negative interest rates may magnify interest rate risk. Changing interest rates, including rates that fall below zero, may have unpredictable effects on markets, may result in heightened market volatility and may detract from Fund performance to the extent a Fund is exposed to such interest rates.
Measures such as average duration may not accurately reflect the true interest rate sensitivity of a Fund. This is especially the case if a Fund consists of securities with widely varying durations. Therefore, if a Fund has an average duration that suggests a certain level of interest rate risk, the Fund may in fact be subject to greater interest rate risk than the average would suggest. This risk is greater to the extent a Fund uses leverage or derivatives in connection with the management of the Fund.
Convexity is an additional measure used to understand a security’s or Fund’s interest rate sensitivity. Convexity measures the rate of change of duration in response to changes in interest rates. With respect to a security’s price, a larger convexity (positive or negative) may imply more dramatic price changes in response to changing interest rates. Convexity may be positive or negative. Negative convexity implies that interest rate increases result in increased duration, meaning increased sensitivity in prices in response to rising interest rates. Thus, securities with negative convexity, which may include bonds with traditional call features and certain mortgage-backed securities, may experience greater losses in periods of rising interest rates. Accordingly, if a Fund holds such securities, the Fund may be subject to a greater risk of losses in periods of rising interest rates.
Rising interest rates may result in a decline in value of the Fund’s fixed income investments and in periods of volatility. Further, while U.S. bond markets have steadily grown over the past three decades, dealer “market making” ability has remained relatively stagnant. As a result, dealer inventories of certain types of bonds and similar instruments, which provide a core indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets,” are at or near historic lows in relation to market size. Because market makers provide stability to a market through their intermediary services, the significant reduction in dealer inventories could potentially lead to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed income markets. Such issues may be exacerbated during periods of economic uncertainty. All of these factors, collectively and/or individually, could cause a Fund to lose value.
Issuer Risk
The value of a security may decline for a number of reasons that directly relate to the issuer, such as management performance,
financial leverage and reduced demand for the issuer’s goods or services, as well as the historical and prospective earnings of the issuer and the value of its assets. A change in the financial condition of a single issuer may affect securities markets as a whole. These risks can apply to the Common Shares issued by a Fund and to the issuers of securities and other instruments in which the Fund invests.
Leverage Risk
A Fund’s use of leverage, if any, creates the opportunity for increased Common Share net income, but also creates special risks for Common Shareholders. To the extent used, there is no assurance that a Fund’s leveraging strategies will be successful. Leverage is a speculative technique that may expose a Fund to greater risk and increased costs. A Fund’s assets attributable to leverage, if any, will be invested in accordance with the Fund’s investment objective and policies. Interest expense payable by a Fund with respect to derivatives and other forms of leverage, and dividends payable with respect to any preferred shares outstanding, if any, will generally be based on shorter-term interest rates that would be periodically reset. So long as a Fund’s portfolio investments provide a higher rate of return (net of applicable Fund expenses) than the interest expenses and other costs to a Fund of such leverage, the investment of the proceeds thereof will generate more income than will be needed to pay the costs of the leverage. If so, and all other things being equal, the excess may be used to pay higher dividends to Common Shareholders than if a Fund were not so leveraged. If, however, shorter-term interest rates rise relative to the rate of return on a Fund’s portfolio, the interest and other costs to the Fund of leverage could exceed the rate of return on the debt obligations and other investments held by the Fund, thereby reducing return to Common Shareholders. In addition, fees and expenses of any form of leverage used by a Fund will be borne entirely by the Common Shareholders (and not by preferred shareholders, if any) and will reduce the investment return of the Common Shares. Therefore, there can be no assurance that a Fund’s use of leverage will result in a higher yield on the Common Shares, and it may result in losses. In addition, any preferred shares issued by a Fund are expected to pay cumulative dividends, which may tend to increase leverage risk.
Leverage creates several major types of risks for Common Shareholders, including:
    the likelihood of greater volatility of NAV and market price of Common Shares, and of the investment return to Common Shareholders, than a comparable portfolio without leverage;
    the possibility either that Common Share dividends will fall if the interest and other costs of leverage rise, or that dividends paid on Common Shares will fluctuate because such costs vary over time; and
    the effects of leverage in a declining market or a rising interest rate environment, as leverage is likely to cause a greater decline in the NAV of the Common Shares than if a Fund were not leveraged and may result in a greater decline in the market value of the Common Shares.
In addition, the counterparties to a Fund’s leveraging transactions and any preferred shareholders of the Fund will have priority of payment over the Fund’s Common Shareholders.
Reverse repurchase agreements involve the risks that the interest income earned on the investment of the proceeds will be less than the interest expense and Fund expenses associated with the repurchase agreement, that the market value of the securities sold by a Fund may decline below the price at which the Fund is obligated to repurchase such securities and that the securities may not be returned to a Fund. There is no assurance that reverse repurchase agreements can be successfully employed. Dollar roll transactions involve the risk that the market value of the securities a Fund is required to purchase may decline below the agreed upon repurchase price of those securities.
Successful use of dollar rolls may depend upon the Investment Manager’s ability to correctly predict interest rates and prepayments. There is no assurance that dollar rolls can be successfully employed. In connection with reverse repurchase agreements and dollar rolls, a Fund will also be subject to counterparty risk with respect to the purchaser of the securities. If the broker/dealer to whom a Fund sells securities becomes insolvent, the Fund’s right to purchase or repurchase securities may be restricted.
The Fund’s use, if any, of total return swaps, reverse repurchases, loans of portfolio securities, short sales and when-issued, delayed delivery and forward commitment transactions, credit default swaps, basis swaps and other swap agreements, purchases or sales of futures and forward contracts (including foreign currency exchange contracts), call and put options or other derivatives may give rise to associated leverage risks described above, and may adversely affect a Fund’s income, distributions and total returns to Common Shareholders. To the extent that any offsetting positions do not behave in relation to one another as expected, a Fund may perform as if it is leveraged through use of these derivative strategies.
Any preferred shares, tender option bonds, total return swaps, reverse repurchases, loans of portfolio securities, short sales and when-issued, delayed delivery and forward commitment transactions, credit default swaps, basis swaps and other swap agreements, purchases or sales of futures and forward contracts (including foreign currency exchange contracts), call and put options or other derivatives by a Fund or counterparties to the Fund’s other leveraging transactions, if any, would have seniority over the Fund’s Common Shares.
The Fund is required to satisfy certain asset coverage requirements in connection with its use of Preferred Shares, including those imposed by regulatory and rating agency requirements. Accordingly, any decline in the net asset value of the Fund’s investments could result in the risk that the Fund will fail to meet its asset coverage requirements for Preferred Shares or the risk of the Preferred Shares being downgraded by a rating agency. In an extreme case, the Fund’s current investment income might not be sufficient to meet the dividend requirements on Preferred Shares outstanding. In order to address these types of events, the Fund might need to liquidate investments in order to fund a redemption of some or all of the Preferred Shares. Liquidation at times of adverse economic conditions may result in a loss to the Fund. At other times, these liquidations may result in gain at the Fund level and thus in additional taxable distributions to Common Shareholders. Any Preferred Shares, TOBs, loans of portfolio securities, short sales and when-issued, delayed delivery and forward commitment transactions, credit default swaps, reverse repurchases, or other derivatives by the Fund or counterparties to the Fund’s other leveraging transactions, if any, would have, seniority over the Fund’s Common Shares.
When the Fund issues Preferred Shares, the Fund pays (and the Common Shareholders bear) all costs and expenses relating to the issuance and ongoing maintenance of Preferred Shares. In addition, holders of Preferred Shares issued by the Fund would have complete priority over Common Shareholders in the distribution of the Fund’s assets. Furthermore, preferred shareholders, voting separately as a single class, have the right to elect two members of the Board at all times and to elect a majority of the trustees in the event two full years’ dividends on the Preferred Shares are unpaid, and also have separate class voting rights on certain matters. Accordingly, preferred shareholders may have interests that differ from those of Common Shareholders, and may at times have disproportionate influence over the Fund’s affairs.
Because the fees received by the Investment Manager may increase depending on the types of leverage utilized by a Fund, the Investment Manager has a financial incentive for the Fund to use certain forms of leverage, which may create a conflict of interest between the Investment Manager, on the one hand, and the Common Shareholders, on the other hand.1
Liquidity Risk
Liquidity risk exists when particular investments are difficult to purchase or sell. Illiquid investments are investments that a Fund reasonably expects cannot be sold or disposed of in current market
 
1 
The types of leverage on which fees are received by the Investment Manager with respect to the Fund are discussed in Note 8 in the Notes to Financial Statements.
conditions in seven calendar days or less without the sale or disposition significantly changing the market value of the investment.
Illiquid investments may become harder to value, especially in changing markets. A Fund’s investments in illiquid investments may reduce the returns of the Fund because it may be unable to sell the illiquid investments at an advantageous time or price or possibly require the Fund to dispose of other investments at unfavorable times or prices in order to satisfy its obligations, which could prevent the Fund from taking advantage of other investment opportunities.
Additionally, the market for certain investments may become illiquid under adverse market or economic conditions independent of any specific adverse changes in the conditions of a particular issuer. Bond markets have consistently grown over the past three decades while the capacity for traditional dealer counterparties to engage in fixed income trading has not kept pace and in some cases has decreased. As a result, dealer inventories of corporate bonds, which provide a core indication of the ability of financial intermediaries to “make markets,” are at or near historic lows in relation to market size. Because market makers seek to provide stability to a market through their intermediary services, the significant reduction in dealer inventories could potentially lead to decreased liquidity and increased volatility in the fixed income markets. Such issues may be exacerbated during periods of economic uncertainty. In such cases, a Fund, due to limitations on investments in illiquid investments and the difficulty in purchasing and selling such securities or instruments, may be unable to achieve its desired level of exposure to a certain sector. To the extent that the Fund invests in securities of companies with smaller market capitalizations, foreign (non‑U.S.) securities, Rule 144A securities, illiquid sectors of fixed income securities, derivatives or securities with substantial market and/or credit risk, the Fund will tend to have greater exposure to liquidity risk.
Further, fixed income securities with longer durations until maturity face heightened levels of liquidity risk as compared to fixed income securities with shorter durations until maturity. The risks associated with illiquid instruments may be particularly acute in situations in which a Fund’s operations require cash (such as in connection with repurchase offers) and could result in the Fund borrowing to meet its short-term needs or incurring losses on the sale of illiquid instruments. It may also be the case that other market participants may be attempting to liquidate fixed income holdings at the same time as a Fund, causing increased supply in the market and contributing to liquidity risk and downward pricing pressure.
Loans and Other Indebtedness; Loan Participations and Assignments Risk
Loan interests may take the form of (i) direct interests acquired during a primary distribution or (ii) assignments of, novations of or
participations in all or a portion of a loan acquired in secondary markets. In addition to credit risk and interest rate risk, a Fund’s exposure to loan interests may be subject to additional risks. For example, purchasers of loans and other forms of direct indebtedness depend primarily upon the creditworthiness of the borrower for payment of principal and interest. Loans are subject to the risk that scheduled interest or principal payments will not be made in a timely manner or at all, either of which may adversely affect the values of the loan. If a Fund does not receive scheduled interest or principal payments on such indebtedness, the Fund’s share price and yield could be adversely affected. Loans that are fully secured offer a Fund more protection than an unsecured loan in the event of non‑payment of scheduled interest or principal. However, the collateral underlying a loan may be unavailable or insufficient to satisfy a borrower’s obligation, and a Fund could become part owner of any collateral if a loan is foreclosed, subjecting the Fund to costs associated with owning and disposing of the collateral.
Investments in loans through a purchase of a loan, loan origination or a direct assignment of a financial institution’s interests with respect to a loan may involve additional risks to a Fund. For example, if a loan is foreclosed, the Fund could become owner, in whole or in part, of any collateral, which could include, among other assets, real estate or other real or personal property, and would bear the costs and liabilities associated with owning and holding or disposing of the collateral. The purchaser of an assignment typically succeeds to all the rights and obligations under the loan agreement with the same rights and obligations as the assigning lender. Assignments may, however, be arranged through private negotiations between potential assignees and potential assignors, and the rights and obligations acquired by the purchaser of an assignment may differ from, and be more limited than, those held by the assigning lender.
In connection with purchasing loan participations, a Fund generally will have no right to enforce compliance by the borrower with the terms of the loan agreement relating to the loan, nor any rights of set‑off against the borrower, and the Fund may not directly benefit from any collateral supporting the loan in which it has purchased the loan participation. As a result, the Fund will be subject to the credit risk of both the borrower and the lender that is selling the participation. In the event of the insolvency of the lender selling a participation, the Fund may be treated as a general creditor of the lender and may not benefit from any set‑off between the lender and the borrower. Certain loan participations may be structured in a manner designed to prevent purchasers of participations from being subject to the credit risk of the lender, but even under such a structure, in the event of the lender’s insolvency, the lender’s servicing of the participation may be delayed and the assignability of the participation impaired.
A Fund may have difficulty disposing of loans and loan participations because to do so it will have to assign or sell such securities to a third party. Because there is no liquid market for many such securities, the Fund anticipates that such securities could be sold only to a limited number of institutional investors. The lack of a liquid secondary market may have an adverse impact on the value of such securities and a Fund’s ability to dispose of particular loans and loan participations when that would be desirable, including in response to a specific economic event such as a deterioration in the creditworthiness of the borrower. The lack of a liquid secondary market for loans and loan participations also may make it more difficult for a Fund to assign a value to these securities for purposes of valuing the Fund’s portfolio.
Investments in loans may include participations in bridge loans, which are loans taken out by borrowers for a short period (typically less than one year) pending arrangement of more permanent financing through, for example, the issuance of bonds, frequently high yield bonds issued for the purpose of acquisitions.
To the extent a Fund invests in loans, including bank loans, or originates loans, the Fund may be subject to greater levels of credit risk, call risk, settlement risk and liquidity risk. These instruments are considered predominantly speculative with respect to an issuer’s continuing ability to make principal and interest payments and may be more volatile than other types of securities. The Fund may also be subject to greater levels of liquidity risk than funds that do not invest in loans. In addition, the loans in which a Fund invests may not be listed on any exchange and a secondary market for such loans may be comparatively illiquid relative to markets for other more liquid fixed income securities. Consequently, transactions in loans may involve greater costs than transactions in more actively traded securities. In connection with certain loan transactions, transaction costs that are borne by a Fund may include the expenses of third parties that are retained to assist with reviewing and conducting diligence, negotiating, structuring and servicing a loan transaction, and/or providing other services in connection therewith. Furthermore, the Fund may incur such costs in connection with loan transactions that are pursued by the Fund but not ultimately consummated (so‑called “broken deal costs”).
Restrictions on transfers in loan agreements, a lack of publicly-available information, irregular trading activity and wide bid/ask spreads, among other factors, may, in certain circumstances, make loans more difficult to sell at an advantageous time or price than other types of securities or instruments. These factors may result in a Fund being unable to realize full value for the loans and/or may result in the Fund not receiving the proceeds from a sale of a loan for an extended period after such sale, each of which could result in losses to the Fund. Some loans may have extended trade settlement periods, including
settlement periods of greater than seven days, which may result in cash not being immediately available to the Fund. If an issuer of a loan prepays or redeems the loan prior to maturity, a Fund may have to reinvest the proceeds in other loans or similar instruments that may pay lower interest rates. Because of the risks involved in investing in loans, an investment in a Fund should be considered speculative.
A Fund’s investments in subordinated and unsecured loans generally are subject to similar risks as those associated with investments in secured loans. Subordinated or unsecured loans are lower in priority of payment to secured loans and are subject to the additional risk that the cash flow of the borrower and property securing the loan or debt, if any, may be insufficient to meet scheduled payments after giving effect to the senior secured obligations of the borrower. This risk is generally higher for subordinated unsecured loans or debt, which are not backed by a security interest in any specific collateral. Subordinated and unsecured loans generally have greater price volatility than secured loans and may be less liquid. There is also a possibility that originators will not be able to sell participations in subordinated or unsecured loans, which would create greater credit risk exposure for the holders of such loans. Subordinate and unsecured loans share the same risks as other below investment grade securities.
There may be less readily available information about most loans and the underlying borrowers than is the case for many other types of securities. Loans may be issued by borrowers borrowers that are not subject to SEC reporting requirements and therefore may not be required to file reports with the SEC or may file reports that are not required to comply with SEC form requirements. In addition, such borrowers may be subject to a less stringent liability disclosure regime than companies subject to SEC reporting requirements. Loans may not be considered “securities,” and purchasers, such as the Funds, therefore may not be entitled to rely on the anti-fraud protections of the federal securities laws. Because there is limited public information available regarding loan investments, a Fund is particularly dependent on the analytical abilities of the Fund’s portfolio managers.
Economic exposure to loan interests through the use of derivative transactions may involve greater risks than if a Fund had invested in the loan interest directly during a primary distribution, through direct originations or through assignments of, novations of or participations in a loan acquired in secondary markets since, in addition to the risks described above, certain derivative transactions may be subject to leverage risk and greater illiquidity risk, counterparty risk, valuation risk and other risks.
Management Risk
The Funds are subject to management risk because they are actively managed investment portfolios. PIMCO and each individual portfolio
manager will apply investment techniques and risk analysis in making investment decisions for a Fund, but there can be no guarantee that these decisions will produce the desired results. Certain securities or other instruments in which a Fund seeks to invest may not be available in the quantities desired. In addition, regulatory restrictions, actual or potential conflicts of interest or other considerations may cause PIMCO to restrict or prohibit participation in certain investments. In such circumstances, PIMCO or the individual portfolio managers may determine to purchase other securities or instruments as substitutes. Such substitute securities or instruments may not perform as intended, which could result in losses to the Funds. To the extent a Fund employs strategies targeting perceived pricing inefficiencies, arbitrage strategies or similar strategies, it is subject to the risk that the pricing or valuation of the securities and instruments involved in such strategies may change unexpectedly, which may result in reduced returns or losses to the Fund. Each Fund is also subject to the risk that deficiencies in the internal systems or controls of PIMCO or another service provider will cause losses for the Fund or hinder Fund operations. For example, trading delays or errors (both human and systemic) could prevent a Fund from purchasing a security expected to appreciate in value. Additionally, actual or potential conflicts of interest, legislative, regulatory, or tax restrictions, policies or developments may affect the investment techniques available to PIMCO and each individual portfolio manager in connection with managing a Fund and may also adversely affect the ability of the Fund to achieve its investment objective. There also can be no assurance that all of the personnel of PIMCO will continue to be associated with PIMCO for any length of time. The loss of the services of one or more key employees of PIMCO could have an adverse impact on a Fund’s ability to realize its investment objectives.
In addition, each Fund may rely on various third-party sources to calculate its NAV. As a result, each Fund is subject to certain operational risks associated with reliance on service providers and service providers’ data sources. In particular, errors or systems failures and other technological issues may adversely impact a Fund’s calculations of its NAV, and such NAV calculation issues may result in inaccurately calculated NAVs, delays in NAV calculation and/or the inability to calculate NAVs over extended periods. A Fund may be unable to recover any losses associated with such failures.
Market Risk
The market price of securities owned by the Funds may go up or down, sometimes rapidly or unpredictably. Securities may decline in value due to factors affecting securities markets generally or particular industries represented in the securities markets. The value of a security may decline due to general market conditions that are not specifically related to a particular company, such as real or perceived adverse
economic conditions, changes in the general outlook for corporate earnings, changes in interest or currency rates, adverse changes to credit markets or adverse investor sentiment generally. The value of a security may also decline due to factors that affect a particular industry or industries, such as labor shortages or increased production costs and competitive conditions within an industry. During a general downturn in the securities markets, multiple asset classes may decline in value simultaneously. Equity securities generally have greater price volatility than fixed income securities. Credit ratings downgrades may also negatively affect securities held by the Fund. Even when markets perform well, there is no assurance that the investments held by the Fund will increase in value along with the broader market.
In addition, market risk includes the risk that geopolitical and other events will disrupt the economy on a national or global level. For instance, war, terrorism, market manipulation, government defaults, government shutdowns, political changes, diplomatic developments or the imposition of sanctions and other similar measures, public health emergencies (such as the spread of infectious diseases, pandemics and epidemics) and natural/environmental disasters can all negatively impact the securities markets, which could cause the Fund to lose value. These events could reduce consumer demand or economic output, result in market closures, travel restrictions or quarantines, and significantly adversely impact the economy. The current contentious domestic political environment, as well as political and diplomatic events within the United States and abroad, such as presidential elections in the U.S. or abroad or the U.S. government’s inability at times to agree on a long-term budget and deficit reduction plan, has in the past resulted, and may in the future result, in a government shutdown or otherwise adversely affect the U.S. regulatory landscape, the general market environment and/or investor sentiment, which could have an adverse impact on the Fund’s investments and operations. Additional and/or prolonged U.S. federal government shutdowns may affect investor and consumer confidence and may adversely impact financial markets and the broader economy, perhaps suddenly and to a significant degree. Governmental and quasi-governmental authorities and regulators throughout the world have previously responded to serious economic disruptions with a variety of significant fiscal and monetary policy changes, including but not limited to, direct capital infusions into companies, new monetary programs and dramatically lower interest rates. An unexpected or sudden reversal of these policies, or the ineffectiveness of these policies, could increase volatility in securities markets, which could adversely affect the Fund’s investments. Any market disruptions could also prevent the Fund from executing advantageous investment decisions in a timely manner. Funds that have focused their investments in a region enduring geopolitical market disruption will face higher risks of loss. Thus, investors should closely monitor current
market conditions to determine whether the Fund meets their individual financial needs and tolerance for risk.
Recently, there have been inflationary price movements. As such, fixed income securities markets may experience heightened levels of interest rate, volatility and liquidity risk. As discussed more under “Interest Rate Risk,” the Federal Reserve has begun to raise interest rates from historically low levels and has signaled an intention to continue to do so. Any additional interest rate increases in the future could cause the value of any Fund, such as the Fund, that invests in fixed income securities to decrease.
Exchanges and securities markets may close early, close late or issue trading halts on specific securities, which may result in, among other things, a Fund being unable to buy or sell certain securities or financial instruments at an advantageous time or accurately price its portfolio investments.
Market Discount Risk
The price of a Fund’s Common Shares will fluctuate with market conditions and other factors. If you sell your Common Shares, the price received may be more or less than your original investment. The Common Shares are designed for long-term investors and should not be treated as trading vehicles. Shares of closed‑end management investment companies frequently trade at a discount from their NAV.
Market Disruptions Risk
Each Fund is subject to investment and operational risks associated with financial, economic and other global market developments and disruptions, including those arising from war, terrorism, market manipulation, government interventions, defaults and shutdowns, political changes or diplomatic developments, public health emergencies (such as the spread of infectious diseases, pandemics and epidemics) and natural/environmental disasters, which can all negatively impact the securities markets, interest rates, secondary trading, ratings, credit risk, inflation, deflation, other factors relating to a Fund’s investments or the Investment Manager’s operations and the value of an investment in a Fund, its distributions and its returns. These events can also impair the technology and other operational systems upon which a Fund’s service providers, including PIMCO as each Fund’s investment adviser, rely, and could otherwise disrupt a Fund’s service providers’ ability to fulfill their obligations to a Fund.
Mortgage-Related and Other Asset-Backed Instruments Risk
The mortgage-related assets in which the Fund may invest include, but are not limited to, any security, instrument or other asset that is related to U.S. or non‑U.S. mortgages, including those issued by private originators or issuers, or issued or guaranteed as to principal or interest by the U.S. government or its agencies or instrumentalities or by non‑U.S. governments or authorities, such as, without limitation,
assets representing interests in, collateralized or backed by, or whose values are determined in whole or in part by reference to any number of mortgages or pools of mortgages or the payment experience of such mortgages or pools of mortgages, including REMICs, which could include Re‑REMICs, mortgage pass-through securities, inverse floaters, CMOs, CLOs, multiclass pass-through securities, private mortgage pass-through securities, stripped mortgage securities (generally interest-only and principal-only securities), mortgage-related asset backed securities and mortgage-related loans (including through participations, assignments, originations and whole loans), including commercial and residential mortgage loans. Exposures to mortgage-related assets through derivatives or other financial instruments will be considered investments in mortgage-related assets.
The Fund may also invest in other types of ABS, including CDOs, CBOs and CLOs and other similarly structured securities.
Mortgage-related and other asset-backed instruments represent interests in “pools” of mortgages or other assets such as consumer loans or receivables held in trust and often involve risks that are different from or possibly more acute than risks associated with other types of debt instruments.
Generally, rising interest rates tend to extend the duration of fixed rate mortgage-related assets, making them more sensitive to changes in interest rates. As a result, in a period of rising interest rates, a Fund may exhibit additional volatility since individual mortgage holders are less likely to exercise prepayment options, thereby putting additional downward pressure on the value of these securities and potentially causing the Fund to lose money. This is known as extension risk.
Mortgage-backed securities can be highly sensitive to rising interest rates, such that even small movements can cause a Fund to lose value. Mortgage-backed securities, and in particular those not backed by a government guarantee, are subject to credit risk. When interest rates decline, borrowers may pay off their mortgages sooner than expected. This can reduce the returns of a Fund because the Fund may have to reinvest that money at the lower prevailing interest rates. A Fund’s investments in other asset-backed instruments are subject to risks similar to those associated with mortgage-related assets, as well as additional risks associated with the nature of the assets and the servicing of those assets. Payment of principal and interest on asset- backed instruments may be largely dependent upon the cash flows generated by the assets backing the instruments, and asset-backed instruments may not have the benefit of any security interest in the related assets.
Subordinate mortgage-backed or asset-backed instruments are paid interest only to the extent that there are funds available to make payments. To the extent the collateral pool includes a large
percentage of delinquent loans, there is a risk that interest payments on subordinate mortgage-backed or asset-backed instruments will not be fully paid.
There are multiple tranches of mortgage-backed and asset-backed instruments, offering investors various maturity and credit risk characteristics. Tranches are categorized as senior, mezzanine, and subordinated/equity or “first loss,” according to their degree of risk. The most senior tranche of a mortgage-backed or asset-backed instrument has the greatest collateralization and pays the lowest interest rate. If there are defaults or the collateral otherwise underperforms, scheduled payments to senior tranches take precedence over those of mezzanine tranches, and scheduled payments to mezzanine tranches take precedence over those to subordinated/equity tranches. Lower tranches represent lower degrees of credit quality and pay higher interest rates intended to compensate for the attendant risks. The return on the lower tranches is especially sensitive to the rate of defaults in the collateral pool. The lowest tranche (i.e., the “equity” or “residual” tranche) specifically receives the residual interest payments (i.e., money that is left over after the higher tranches have been paid and expenses of the issuing entities have been paid) rather than a fixed interest rate. A Fund expects that investments in the lowest tranche of or subordinate mortgage-backed and other asset-backed instruments will be subject to the greatest risks of losing part or all of their values, which could arise from delinquencies and foreclosures, thereby exposing its investment portfolio to potential losses. Subordinate securities of mortgage- backed and other asset-backed instruments are also subject to greater credit risk than those mortgage-backed or other asset-backed instruments that are more highly rated.
The mortgage markets in the United States and in various foreign countries have experienced extreme difficulties in the past that adversely affected the performance and market value of certain of a Fund’s mortgage-related investments. Delinquencies and losses on residential and commercial mortgage loans (especially subprime and second-lien mortgage loans) may increase, and a decline in or flattening of housing and other real property values may exacerbate such delinquencies and losses. In addition, reduced investor demand for mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities and increased investor yield requirements have caused limited liquidity in the secondary market for mortgage-related securities, which can adversely affect the market value of mortgage-related securities. It is possible that such limited liquidity in such secondary markets could continue or worsen.
With respect to risk retention tranches (i.e., eligible residual interests initially held by the sponsors of CMBS and other eligible securitizations pursuant to the U.S. Risk Retention Rules), a third-party purchaser,
such as the Fund, must hold its retained interest, unhedged, for at least five year following the closing of the CMBS transaction, after which it is entitled to transfer its interest in the securitization to another person that meets the requirements for a third-party purchaser. Even after the required holding period has expired, due to the generally illiquid nature of such investments, no assurance can be given as to what, if any, exit strategies will ultimately be available for any given position.
In addition, there is limited guidance on the application of the Final U.S. Risk Retention Rules to specific securitization structures. There can be no assurance that the applicable federal agencies charged with the implementation of the Final U.S. Risk Retention Rules (the FDIC, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Reserve Board, the SEC, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Federal Housing Finance Agency) could not take positions in the future that differ from the interpretation of such rules taken or embodied in such securitizations, or that the Final U.S. Risk Retention Rules will not change.
Furthermore, in situations where a Fund invests in risk retention tranches of securitizations structured by third parties, a Fund may be required to execute one or more letters or other agreements, the exact form and nature of which will vary (each, a “Risk Retention Agreement”) under which it will make certain undertakings designed to ensure such securitization complies with the Final U.S. Risk Retention Rules. Such Risk Retention Agreements may include a variety of representations, warranties, covenants and other indemnities, each of which may run to various transaction parties. If a Fund breaches any undertakings in any Risk Retention Agreement, it will be exposed to claims by the other parties thereto, including for any losses incurred as a result of such breach.
Mortgage-Related Derivative Instruments Risk
The Fund may engage in derivative transactions related to mortgage- backed securities, including purchasing and selling exchange-listed and OTC put and call options, futures and forwards on mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. The Fund may also invest in mortgage- backed securities credit default swaps, which include swaps the reference obligation for which is a mortgage-backed security or related index, such as the CMBX Index (a tradeable index referencing a basket of commercial mortgage-backed securities), the TRX Index (a tradeable index referencing total return swaps based on commercial mortgage-backed securities) or the ABX (a tradeable index referencing a basket of sub‑prime mortgage- backed securities). The Fund may invest in newly developed mortgage related derivatives that may hereafter become available.
Derivative mortgage-backed securities (such as principal-only (“POs”), interest-only (“IOs”) or inverse floating rate securities) are particularly
exposed to call and extension risks. Small changes in mortgage prepayments can significantly impact the cash flows and the market value of these derivative instruments. In general, the risk of faster than anticipated prepayments adversely affects IOs, super floaters and premium priced mortgage-backed securities. The risk of slower than anticipated prepayments generally affects POs, floating-rate securities subject to interest rate caps, support tranches and discount priced mortgage-backed securities. In addition, particular derivative instruments may be leveraged such that their exposure (i.e., price sensitivity) to interest rate and/or prepayment risk is magnified.
Mortgage-related derivative instruments involve risks associated with mortgage-related and other asset-backed instruments, privately-issued mortgage-related securities, the mortgage market, the real estate industry, derivatives and credit default swaps.
Municipal Bond Risk
Investing in the municipal bond market involves the risks of investing in debt securities generally and certain other risks. The amount of public information available about the municipal bonds in which a Fund may invest is generally less than that for corporate equities or bonds, and the investment performance of the Fund’s investment in municipal bonds may therefore be more dependent on the analytical abilities of PIMCO than its investments in taxable bonds. The secondary market for municipal bonds also tends to be less well developed or liquid than many other securities markets, which may adversely affect a Fund’s ability to sell municipal bonds at attractive prices.
The ability of municipal issuers to make timely payments of interest and principal may be diminished during general economic downturns, by litigation, legislation or political events, or by the bankruptcy of the issuer. Laws, referenda, ordinances or regulations enacted in the future by Congress or state legislatures or the applicable governmental entity could extend the time for payment of principal and/or interest, or impose other constraints on enforcement of such obligations, or on the ability of municipal issuers to levy taxes. Issuers of municipal securities also might seek protection under the bankruptcy laws. In the event of bankruptcy of such an issuer, a Fund could experience delays in collecting principal and interest and the Fund may not, in all circumstances, be able to collect all principal and interest to which it is entitled. To enforce its rights in the event of a default in the payment of interest or repayment of principal, or both, a Fund may take possession of and manage the assets securing the issuer’s obligations on such securities, which may increase the Fund’s operating expenses.
Adverse economic, business, legal or political developments might affect all or a substantial portion of a Fund’s municipal bonds in the same manner. A Fund will be particularly subject to these risks to the extent that it focuses its investments in municipal bonds in a particular state or geographic region.
A Fund may invest in trust certificates issued in tender option bond programs. In these programs, a trust typically issues two classes of certificates and uses the proceeds to purchase municipal securities having relatively long maturities and bearing interest at a fixed interest rate substantially higher than prevailing short-term tax‑exempt rates. There is a risk that a Fund will not be considered the owner of a tender option bond for federal income tax purposes, and thus will not be entitled to treat such interest as exempt from federal income tax. Certain tender option bonds may be less liquid or may become less liquid as a result of, among other things, a credit rating downgrade, a payment default or a disqualification from tax‑exempt status. A Fund’s investment in the securities issued by a tender option bond trust may involve greater risk and volatility than an investment in a fixed rate bond, and the value of such securities may decrease significantly when market interest rates increase. Tender option bond trusts could be terminated due to market, credit or other events beyond the Fund’s control, which could require the Fund to dispose of portfolio investments at inopportune times and prices. A Fund may use a tender option bond program as a way of achieving leverage in its portfolio, in which case the Fund will be subject to leverage risk.
A Fund may invest in revenue bonds, which are typically issued to fund a wide variety of capital projects including electric, gas, water and sewer systems; highways, bridges and tunnels; port and airport facilities; colleges and universities; and hospitals. Because the principal security for a revenue bond is generally the net revenues derived from a particular facility or group of facilities or, in some cases, from the proceeds of a special excise or other specific revenue source, there is no guarantee that the particular project will generate enough revenue to pay its obligations, in which case a Fund’s performance may be adversely affected.
A Fund may invest in taxable municipal bonds, such as Build America Bonds. Build America Bonds are tax credit bonds created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which authorized state and local governments to issue Build America Bonds as taxable bonds in 2009 and 2010, without volume limitations, to finance any capital expenditures for which such issuers could otherwise issue traditional tax‑exempt bonds. A Fund’s investments in Build America Bonds or similar taxable municipal bonds will result in taxable income and the Fund may elect to pass through to holders of the Fund’s common shares (“Common Shares”) the corresponding tax credits. The tax credits can generally be used to offset federal income taxes and the alternative minimum tax, but such credits are generally not refundable. Taxable municipal bonds involve similar risks as tax‑exempt municipal bonds, including credit and market risk.
A Fund may invest in pre‑refunded Municipal Bonds. Pre‑refunded Municipal Bonds are tax‑exempt bonds that have been refunded to a
call date prior to the final maturity of principal, or, in the case of pre‑refunded Municipal Bonds commonly referred to as “escrowed‑to‑maturity bonds,” to the final maturity of principal, and remain outstanding in the municipal market. The payment of principal and interest of the pre‑refunded Municipal Bonds held by a Fund is funded from securities in a designated escrow account that holds U.S. Treasury securities or other obligations of the U.S. Government (including its agencies and instrumentalities (“Agency Securities”)). As the payment of principal and interest is generated from securities held in an escrow account established by the municipality and an independent escrow agent, the pledge of the municipality has been fulfilled and the original pledge of revenue by the municipality is no longer in place. Pre‑refunded and/or escrowed to maturity Municipal Bonds may bear an investment grade rating (for example, if re‑rated by a rating service or, if not re‑rated, determined by PIMCO to be of comparable quality) because they are backed by U.S. Treasury securities, Agency Securities or other investment grade securities. For the avoidance of any doubt, PIMCO’s determination of an issue’s credit rating will generally be used for compliance with the Fund’s investment parameters when an issue either loses its rating or is not re‑rated upon pre‑refunding. Because the payment of principal and interest is generated from securities held in an escrow account established by the municipality and an independent escrow agent, the pledge of the municipality has been fulfilled and the original pledge of revenue by the municipality is no longer in place. The escrow account securities pledged to pay the principal and interest of the pre‑refunded municipal bond do not guarantee the price movement of the bond before maturity. Issuers of municipal bonds refund in advance of maturity the outstanding higher cost debt and issue new, lower cost debt, placing the proceeds of the lower cost issuance into an escrow account to pre‑refund the older, higher cost debt. Investment in pre‑refunded municipal bonds held by the Fund may subject the Fund to interest rate risk and market risk. In addition, while a secondary market exists for pre‑refunded municipal bonds, if the Fund sells pre‑refunded municipal bonds prior to maturity, the price received may be more or less than the original cost, depending on market conditions at the time of sale.
A Fund may invest in participations in lease obligations or installment purchase contract obligations of municipal authorities or entities. Although a municipal lease obligation does not constitute a general obligation of the municipality for which the municipality’s taxing power is pledged, a municipal lease obligation is ordinarily backed by the municipality’s covenant to budget for, appropriate and make the payments due under the municipal lease obligation. However, certain municipal lease obligations contain “non‑appropriation” clauses, which provide that the municipality has no obligation to make lease or installment purchase payments in future years unless money is
appropriated for such purpose on a yearly basis. In the case of a “non‑appropriation” lease, a Fund’s ability to recover under the lease in the event of non‑appropriation or default will be limited solely to the repossession of the leased property, without recourse to the general credit of the lessee, and the disposition or re‑leasing of the property might prove difficult.
Municipal securities are also subject to interest rate, credit, and liquidity risk, which are discussed generally elsewhere in this section, and elaborated upon below with respect to municipal bonds.
Interest Rate Risk.  The value of municipal securities, similar to other fixed income securities, will likely drop as interest rates rise in the general market. Conversely, when rates decline, bond prices generally rise.
Credit Risk.  The risk that a borrower may be unable to make interest or principal payments when they are due. A fund that invests in municipal securities relies on the ability of the issuer to service its debt.
This subjects a Fund to credit risk in that the municipal issuer may be fiscally unstable or exposed to large liabilities that could impair its ability to honor its obligations. Municipal issuers with significant debt service requirements, in the near‑to mid‑term; unrated issuers and those with less capital and liquidity to absorb additional expenses may be most at risk. To the extent a Fund invests in lower quality or high yield municipal securities, it may be more sensitive to the adverse credit events in the municipal market. The treatment of municipalities in bankruptcy is more uncertain, and potentially more adverse to debt holders, than for corporate issues.
Liquidity Risk.  The risk that investors may have difficulty finding a buyer when they seek to sell, and therefore, may be forced to sell at a discount to the market value. Liquidity may sometimes be impaired in the municipal market and because a Fund primarily invests in municipal securities, it may find it difficult to purchase or sell such securities at opportune times. Liquidity can be impaired due to interest rate concerns, credit events, or general supply and demand imbalances.
Depending on the particular issuer and current economic conditions, municipal securities could be deemed more volatile investments.
In addition to general municipal market risks, different municipal sectors may face different risks. For instance, general obligation bonds are secured by the full faith, credit, and taxing power of the municipality issuing the obligation. As such, timely payment depends on the municipality’s ability to raise tax revenue and maintain a fiscally sound budget. The timely payments may also be influenced by any unfunded pension liabilities or other post-employee benefit plan
(OPEB) liabilities. Revenue bonds are secured by special tax revenues or other revenue sources. If the specified revenues do not materialize, then the bonds may not be repaid.
Private activity bonds are yet another type of municipal security. Municipalities use private activity bonds to finance the development of industrial facilities for use by private enterprise. Principal and interest payments are to be made by the private enterprise benefitting from the development, which means that the holder of the bond is exposed to the risk that the private issuer may default on the bond.
Moral obligation bonds are usually issued by special purpose public entities. If the public entity defaults, repayment becomes a “moral obligation” instead of a legal one. The lack of a legally enforceable right to payment in the event of default poses a special risk for a holder of the bond because it has little or no ability to seek recourse in the event of default.
In addition, a significant restructuring of federal income tax rates, such as the changes to federal income tax rates that occurred in 2017, or even serious discussion on the topic in Congress could cause municipal bond prices to fall. The demand for municipal securities is strongly influenced by the value of tax‑exempt income to investors relative to taxable income. Lower income tax rates potentially could reduce the advantage of owning municipal securities.
Similarly, changes to state or federal regulation tied to a specific sector, such as the hospital sector, could have an impact on the revenue stream for a given subset of the market.
Municipal notes are similar to general municipal debt obligations, but they generally possess shorter terms. Municipal notes can be used to provide interim financing and may not be repaid if anticipated revenues are not realized.
Municipal Project-Specific Risk
A Fund may be more sensitive to adverse economic, business or political developments if it invests a substantial portion of its assets in the bonds of specific projects (such as those relating to education, health care, housing, including affordable housing, transportation, and utilities), industrial development bonds, or in general obligation bonds, particularly if there is a large concentration from issuers in a single state. This is because the value of municipal securities can be significantly affected by the political, economic, legal, and legislative realities of the particular issuer’s locality or municipal sector events. Similarly, changes to state or federal regulation tied to a specific sector, such as the hospital sector, could have an impact on the revenue stream for a given subset of the market.
Municipal Project Housing
A Fund may invest in the bonds of projects focused on low‑income, affordable or other housing developments and businesses located in low income areas or invest in or originate loans that finance or are generally related to such projects. There are significant risks associated with a Fund’s investment in the bonds of these types of projects and loans related to such projects. There may be federal, state and local governmental regulatory restrictions on the operation, rental and transfer of these projects, such as the requirement that the owners of these affordable housing developments rent or sell certain residential units to persons or families of low or moderate income and that the amount of rent that may be charged for these units may be less than market rates. These restrictions may adversely affect economic performance relative to properties that are not subject to these restrictions. There are also no assurances that a project owner will be able to achieve and maintain sufficient rental income in order to pay all operating expenses and maintenance and repair costs of such a project and the debt service on the related bonds or loan on a timely basis. In the event that a project owner is unable to pay all such costs, expenses and debt service, a default on the related bonds or loan is likely to occur.
New York State-Specific Risk
A Fund may be affected significantly by economic, regulatory or political developments affecting the ability of New York issuers to pay interest or repay principal. Certain issuers of New York municipal bonds have experienced serious financial difficulties in the past and reoccurrence of these difficulties may impair the ability of certain New York issuers to pay principal or interest on their obligations. Provisions of the New York Constitution and State statutes which limit the taxing and spending authority of New York governmental entities may impair the ability of New York issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. While New York’s economy is broad, it does have major concentrations in certain industries, such as financial services, and may be sensitive to economic problems affecting those industries. Future New York political and economic developments, constitutional amendments, legislative measures, executive orders, administrative regulations, litigation and voter initiatives could have an adverse effect on the debt obligations of New York issuers.
Non‑Diversification Risk
Each of PNF and PYN is a “non‑diversified” fund, which means that the Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in the securities of a single issuer (such as bonds issued by a particular state) than funds that are “diversified”. A Fund that invests in in a small number of issuers increases risk. By investing in a relatively smaller number of issuers, the Fund is more susceptible to risks associated with a single economic, political or regulatory occurrence than a diversified fund might be. Similarly, the Fund may be subject to increased economic, business or political risk to the extent that it invests a substantial
portion of its assets in a particular currency, in a group of related industries, in a particular issuer, in the bonds of similar projects or in a narrowly defined geographic area outside the U.S.
Operational Risk
An investment in a Fund, like any fund, can involve operational risks arising from factors such as processing errors, human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, failures in systems and technology, changes in personnel and errors caused by third-party service providers. The occurrence of any of these failures, errors or breaches could result in a loss of information, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage or other events, any of which could have a material adverse effect on a Fund. While each Fund seeks to minimize such events through controls and oversight, there may still be failures that could cause losses to the Fund.
Other Investment Companies Risk
When investing in an investment company, a Fund will generally bear its ratable share of that investment company’s expenses and would remain subject to payment of the Fund’s management fees and other expenses with respect to assets so invested. Common Shareholders would therefore be subject to duplicative expenses to the extent a Fund invests in other investment companies. In addition, the securities of other investment companies may also be leveraged and will therefore be subject to same leverage risks.
Portfolio Turnover Risk
The Investment Manager manages the Funds without regard generally to restrictions on portfolio turnover. The use of futures contracts and other derivative instruments with relatively short maturities may tend to exaggerate the portfolio turnover rate for the Funds. Trading in fixed income securities does not generally involve the payment of brokerage commissions but does involve indirect transaction costs. The use of futures contracts and other derivative instruments may involve the payment of commissions to futures commission merchants or other intermediaries. Higher portfolio turnover involves correspondingly greater expenses to each Fund, including brokerage commissions or dealer mark‑ups and other transaction costs on the sale of securities and reinvestments in other securities. The higher the rate of portfolio turnover of a Fund, the higher these transaction costs borne by the Fund generally will be. Such sales may result in realization of taxable capital gains (including short-term capital gains, which are generally taxed to shareholders at ordinary income tax rates when distributed net of short-term capital losses and net long-term capital losses) and may adversely impact a Fund’s after‑tax returns.
Potential Conflicts of Interest Risk — Allocation of Investment Opportunities
The Investment Manager and its affiliates are involved worldwide with a broad spectrum of financial services and asset management activities
and may engage in the ordinary course of business in activities in which their interests or the interests of their clients may conflict with those of a Fund. The Investment Manager may provide investment management services to other funds and discretionary managed accounts that follow an investment program similar to that of a Fund. Subject to the requirements of the 1940 Act, the Investment Manager intends to engage in such activities and may receive compensation from third parties for its services. The results of a Fund’s investment activities may differ from those of the Fund’s affiliates, or another account managed by the Investment Manager or its affiliates, and it is possible that the Fund could sustain losses during periods in which one or more of the Fund’s affiliates and/or other accounts managed by the Investment Manager or its affiliates, including proprietary accounts, achieve profits on their trading.
Additional Risks Associated with the Funds’ Preferred Shares
Although the Funds’ ARPS ordinarily would pay dividends at rates set at periodic auctions, the weekly auctions for the ARPS (and auctions for similar preferred shares issued by closed‑end funds in the U.S.) have failed since 2008. The dividend rates on the ARPS since that time have been paid, and the Funds expect that they will continue to be paid for the foreseeable future, at the “maximum applicable rate.”
The maximum applicable rate for the ARPS and the RVMTP Share Dividend Rate is based in part on a multiple of or a spread plus a reference rate). An increase in market interest rates generally, therefore, could increase substantially the dividend rate required to be paid by the Funds to the holders of Preferred Shares, which would increase the costs associated with the Funds’ leverage and reduce the Funds’ net income available for distribution to holders of Common Shares. In addition, the multiple or spread used to calculate the maximum applicable rate for the ARPS and the RVMTP Share Dividend Rate is based in part on the credit rating assigned to the ARPS or RVMTP Shares by the applicable rating agency(ies), with the multiple or spread generally increasing as the rating declines. Accordingly, future ratings downgrades may result in increases to the maximum applicable rate for the ARPS or to the RVMTP Share Dividend Rate.
Therefore, it is possible that a substantial rise in market interest rates and/or further ratings downgrades of the Preferred Shares could, by reducing income available for distribution to the holders of Common Shares and otherwise detracting from the Funds’ investment performance, make the Funds’ continued use of Preferred Shares for leverage purposes less attractive than such use is currently considered to be. In such case, a Fund may elect to redeem some or all of the Preferred Shares outstanding, which may require it to dispose of investments at inopportune times and to incur losses on such dispositions. Such dispositions may adversely affect the Fund’s
investment performance generally, and the resultant loss of leverage may materially and adversely affect the Fund’s investment returns.
The Funds are also subject to certain asset coverage tests associated with the rating agencies that rate the Preferred Shares. Failure by a Fund to maintain the asset coverages (or to cure such failure in a timely manner) may require the Fund to redeem Preferred Shares and could preclude the Funds from declaring or paying any dividends or distributions to holders of Common Shares. Failure to satisfy ratings agency asset coverage tests or other guidelines could also result in the applicable ratings agency downgrading its then-current ratings on the Preferred Shares, as described above. Moreover, the rating agency guidelines impose restrictions or limitations on the Funds’ use of certain financial instruments or investment techniques that the Funds might otherwise utilize in order to achieve its investment objective, which may adversely affect the Funds’ investment performance. Rating agency guidelines may be modified by the rating agencies in the future and such modifications may make such guidelines substantially more restrictive or otherwise result in downgrades, which could further negatively affect the Fund’s investment performance.
Privacy and Data Security Risk
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”) and other laws limit the disclosure of certain non‑public personal information about a consumer to non‑ affiliated third parties and require financial institutions to disclose certain privacy policies and practices with respect to information sharing with both affiliates and non‑ affiliated third parties. Many states and a number of non‑U.S. jurisdictions have enacted privacy and data security laws requiring safeguards on the privacy and security of consumers’ personally identifiable information. Other laws deal with obligations to safeguard and dispose of private information in a manner designed to avoid its dissemination. Privacy rules adopted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and SEC implement GLBA and other requirements and govern the disclosure of consumer financial information by certain financial institutions, ranging from banks to private investment funds. U.S. platforms following certain models generally are required to have privacy policies that conform to these GLBA and other requirements. In addition, such platforms typically have policies and procedures intended to maintain platform participants’ personal information securely and dispose of it properly.
Each Fund generally does not intend to obtain or hold borrowers’ non‑public personal information, and the Fund has implement procedures designed to prevent the disclosure of borrowers’ non‑public personal information to a Fund. However, service providers to the Fund, including their custodians and the platforms acting as loan servicers for a Fund, may obtain, hold or process such information. A Fund cannot guarantee the security of non‑public personal information in the possession of such a service provider and
cannot guarantee that service providers have been and will continue to comply with the GLBA, other data security and privacy laws and any other related regulatory requirements. Violations of GLBA and other laws could subject a Fund to litigation and/or fines, penalties or other regulatory action, which, individually or in the aggregate, could have an adverse effect on the Fund. A Fund may also face regulations related to privacy and data security in the other jurisdictions in which a Fund invests.
Private Placements and Restricted Securities Risk
A private placement involves the sale of securities that have not been registered under the Securities Act or relevant provisions of applicable non‑U.S. law to certain institutional and qualified individual purchasers, such as the Funds. In addition to the general risks to which all securities are subject, securities received in a private placement generally are subject to strict restrictions on resale, and there may be no liquid secondary market or ready purchaser for such securities. Therefore, the Funds may be unable to dispose of such securities when it desires to do so, or at the most favorable time or price. Private placements may also raise valuation risks. Restricted securities are often purchased at a discount from the market price of unrestricted securities of the same issuer reflecting the fact that such securities may not be readily marketable without some time delay. Such securities are often more difficult to value and the sale of such securities often requires more time and results in higher brokerage charges or dealer discounts and other selling expenses than does the sale of securities trading on national securities exchanges or in the over‑the‑counter markets. Until the Fund can sell such securities into the public markets, its holdings may be less liquid and any sales will need to be made pursuant to an exemption under the Securities Act.
Puerto Rico-Specific Risk
A Fund that concentrates its investments in Municipal Bonds issued by Puerto Rico or its instrumentalities may be affected significantly by economic, regulatory, debt restructuring or political developments affecting the ability or obligation of Puerto Rico issuers to pay interest or repay principal. Certain issuers of Puerto Rico municipal bonds have experienced serious financial difficulties and the continuation or reoccurrence of these difficulties may impair the ability of certain Puerto Rico issuers to pay principal or interest on their obligations. Provisions of the Puerto Rico Constitution and Commonwealth laws, including a federally-appointed oversight board to oversee the Commonwealth’s financial operations, which limit the taxing and spending authority of Puerto Rico governmental entities may impair the ability of Puerto Rico issuers to pay principal and/or interest on their obligations. While Puerto Rico’s economy is broad, it does have major concentrations in certain industries, such as manufacturing and service, and may be sensitive to economic problems affecting those industries. Future Puerto Rico political and economic developments,
constitutional amendments, legislative measures, executive orders, administrative regulations, litigation, debt restructuring, and voter initiatives could have an adverse effect on the debt obligations of Puerto Rico issuers.
Regulatory Changes Risk
Financial entities, such as investment companies and investment advisers, are generally subject to extensive government regulation and intervention. Government regulation and/or intervention may change the way a Fund is regulated, affect the expenses incurred directly by the Fund and the value of its investments, and limit and /or preclude the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. Government regulation may change frequently and may have significant adverse consequences. The Funds and the Investment Manager have historically been eligible for exemptions from certain regulations.
However, there is no assurance that the Funds and the Investment Manager will continue to be eligible for such exemptions. Actions by governmental entities may also impact certain instruments in which a Fund invests.
Moreover, government regulation may have unpredictable and unintended effects. Legislative or regulatory actions to address perceived liquidity or other issues in fixed income markets generally, or in particular markets such as the municipal securities market, may alter or impair a Fund’s ability to pursue its investment objectives or utilize certain investment strategies and techniques.
Current rules related to credit risk retention requirements for asset-backed securities may increase the cost to originators, securitizers and, in certain cases, asset managers of securitization vehicles in which a Fund may invest. The impact of the risk retention rules on the securitization markets is uncertain. These requirements may increase the costs to originators, securitizers, and, in certain cases, collateral managers of securitization vehicles in which a Fund may invest, which costs could be passed along to such Fund as an investor in such vehicles. In addition, the costs imposed by the risk retention rules on originators, securitizers and/or collateral managers may result in a reduction of the number of new offerings of asset-backed securities and thus in fewer investment opportunities for a Fund. A reduction in the number of new securitizations could also reduce liquidity in the markets for certain types of financial assets, which in turn could negatively affect the returns on the Fund’s investment.
Regulatory Risk — Commodity Pool Operator
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) has adopted regulations that subject registered investment companies and their investment advisers to regulation by the CFTC if the registered investment company invests more than a prescribed level of its liquidation value in futures, options on futures or commodities, swaps,
or other financial instruments regulated under the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended, and the rules thereunder (“commodity interests”), or if a Fund markets itself as providing investment exposure to such instruments. The Investment Manager is registered with the CFTC as a Commodity Pool Operator (“CPO”). However, with respect to each Fund, the Investment Manager has claimed an exclusion from registration as a CPO pursuant to CFTC Rule 4.5. For the Investment Manager to remain eligible for this exclusion, each Fund must comply with certain limitations, including limits on its ability to use any commodity interests and limits on the manner in which the Fund holds out its use of such commodity interests. These limitations may restrict a Fund’s ability to pursue its investment objective and strategies increase the costs of implementing its strategies, result in higher expenses for a Fund, and/or adversely affect a Fund’s total return. To the extent a Fund becomes ineligible for this exclusion from CFTC regulation, the Fund may consider steps in order to continue to qualify for exemption from CFTC regulation, or may determine to operate subject to CFTC regulation.
Regulatory Risk — London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”)
The Fund’s investments (including, but not limited to, repurchase agreements, collateralized loan obligations and mortgage-backed securities), payment obligations and financing terms may rely in some fashion on LIBOR. LIBOR is an average interest rate, determined by the ICE Benchmark Administration, that banks charge one another for the use of short-term money. On July 27, 2017, the Chief Executive of the Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”), the United Kingdom’s financial regulatory body and regulator of LIBOR, announced that after 2021 it will cease its active encouragement of banks to provide the quotations needed to sustain LIBOR due to the absence of an active market for interbank unsecured lending and other reasons. On March 5, 2021, the FCA publicly announced that all U.S. Dollar LIBOR settings will either cease to be provided by any administrator or will no longer be representative (i) immediately after December 31, 2021 for one‑week and two‑month U.S. Dollar LIBOR settings and (ii) immediately after June 30, 2023 for the remaining U.S. Dollar LIBOR settings. As of January 1, 2022, as a result of supervisory guidance from U.S. regulators, some U.S. regulated entities have ceased entering into new LIBOR contracts with limited exceptions. While publication of the one‑, three- and six‑month Sterling and Japanese yen LIBOR settings will continue at least through calendar year 2022 on the basis of a changed methodology (known as “synthetic LIBOR”), these rates have been designated by the FCA as unrepresentative of the underlying market they seek to measure and are solely available for use in legacy transactions. Certain bank-sponsored committees in other jurisdictions, including Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan and Switzerland, have selected alternative reference rates denominated in other currencies. There remains uncertainty regarding the future
utilization of LIBOR and the nature of any replacement rate (e.g., the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”), which is intended to replace U.S. dollar LIBOR and measures the cost of overnight borrowings through repurchase agreement transactions collateralized with U.S. Treasury securities). Any potential effects of the transition away from LIBOR on the Fund or on certain instruments in which the Fund invests can be difficult to ascertain, and they may vary depending on factors that include, but are not limited to: (i) existing fallback or termination provisions in individual contracts and (ii) whether, how, and when industry participants develop and adopt new reference rates and fallbacks for both legacy and new products and instruments. For example, certain of the Fund’s investments may involve individual contracts that have (i) no existing fallback provision or language that contemplates the discontinuation of LIBOR or (ii) inadequate fallback provisions or language that does not contemplate a permanent discontinuation of LIBOR, and those investments could experience increased volatility or reduced liquidity as a result of the transition process. In addition, interest rate provisions included in such contracts, or in contracts or other arrangements entered into by the Fund, may need to be renegotiated in contemplation of the transition away from LIBOR. On March 15, 2022, the Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act was signed into law. This law provides a statutory fallback mechanism on a nationwide basis to replace LIBOR with a benchmark rate that is selected by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and based on the SOFR for certain contracts that reference LIBOR and contain no, or insufficient, fallback provisions. It is expected that implementing regulations in respect of the law will follow. The transition of investments from LIBOR to a replacement rate as a result of amendment, application of existing fallbacks, statutory requirements or otherwise may also result in a reduction in the value of certain instruments held by the Fund, a change in the cost of borrowing or the dividend rate for any preferred shares that may be issued by the Fund, or a reduction in the effectiveness of related Fund transactions such as hedges. In addition, an instrument’s transition to a replacement rate could result in variations in the reported yields of the Fund that holds such instrument. Any such effects of the transition away from LIBOR, as well as other unforeseen effects, could result in losses to the Fund.
Reinvestment Risk
Income from a Fund’s portfolio will decline if and when the Fund invests the proceeds from matured, traded or called debt obligations at market interest rates that are below the portfolio’s current earnings rate. For instance, during periods of declining interest rates, an issuer of debt obligations may exercise an option to redeem securities prior to maturity, forcing the Fund to invest in lower-yielding securities. A Fund also may choose to sell higher yielding portfolio securities and to purchase lower yielding securities to achieve greater portfolio
diversification, because the portfolio managers believe the current holdings are overvalued or for other investment-related reasons. A decline in income received by a Fund from its investments is likely to have a negative effect on dividend levels and the market price, NAV and/or overall return of the Common Shares.
Repurchase Agreements Risk
A Fund may enter into repurchase agreements, in which the Fund purchases a security from a bank or broker-dealer, which agrees to repurchase the security at the Fund’s cost plus interest within a specified time. If the party agreeing to repurchase should default, a Fund would seek to sell the securities which it holds. This could involve procedural costs or delays in addition to a loss on the securities if their value should fall below their repurchase price. Repurchase agreements may be or become illiquid. These events could also trigger adverse tax consequences for a Fund.
Securities Lending Risk
For the purpose of achieving income, a Fund may lend its portfolio securities to brokers, dealers, and other financial institutions provided a number of conditions are satisfied, including that the loan is fully collateralized. When a Fund lends portfolio securities, its investment performance will continue to reflect changes in the value of the securities loaned, and the Fund will also receive a fee or interest on the collateral. Securities lending involves the risk of loss of rights in the collateral or delay in recovery of the collateral if the borrower fails to return the security loaned or becomes insolvent. A Fund may pay lending fees to a party arranging the loan. Cash collateral received by a Fund in securities lending transactions may be invested in short-term liquid fixed income instruments or in money market or short-term mutual funds, or similar investment vehicles, including affiliated money market or short-term mutual funds. A Fund bears the risk of such investments.
Short Exposure Risk
A Fund’s short sales and short positions, if any, are subject to special risks. A short sale involves the sale by the Fund of a security that it does not own with the hope of purchasing the same security at a later date at a lower price. A Fund may also enter into a short position through a forward commitment or a short derivative position through a futures contract or swap agreement. If the price of the security or derivative has increased during this time, then the Fund will incur a loss equal to the increase in price from the time that the short sale was entered into plus any transaction costs (i.e., premiums and interest) paid to the broker-dealer to borrow securities. Therefore, short sales involve the risk that losses may be exaggerated, potentially losing more money than the actual cost of the investment. By contrast, a loss on a long position arises from decreases in the value of the security and is limited by the fact that a security’s value cannot decrease below zero.
By investing the proceeds received from selling securities short, a Fund could be deemed to be employing a form of leverage, which creates special risks. The use of leverage may increase a Fund’s exposure to long security positions and make any change in the Fund’s NAV greater than it would be without the use of leverage. This could result in increased volatility of returns. There is no guarantee that any leveraging strategy a Fund employs will be successful during any period in which it is employed.
In times of unusual or adverse market, economic, regulatory or political conditions, a Fund may not be able, fully or partially, to implement its short selling strategy. Periods of unusual or adverse market, economic, regulatory or political conditions generally may exist for as long as six months and, in some cases, much longer. Also, there is the risk that the third party to the short sale or short position will not fulfill its contractual obligations, causing a loss to the Fund.
Structured Investments Risk
Holders of structured products, including structured notes, credit- linked notes and other types of structured products, bear the risks of the underlying investments, index or reference obligation and are subject to counterparty risk. A Fund may have the right to receive payments only from the structured product, and generally does not have direct rights against the issuer or the entity that sold the assets to be securitized. While certain structured products enable the investor to acquire interests in a pool of securities without the brokerage and other expenses associated with directly holding the same securities, investors in structured products generally pay their share of the structured product’s administrative and other expenses. Although it is difficult to predict whether the prices of indices and securities underlying structured products will rise or fall, these prices (and, therefore, the prices of structured products) are generally influenced by the same types of political and economic events that affect issuers of securities and capital markets generally. If the issuer of a structured product uses shorter term financing to purchase longer term securities, the issuer may be forced to sell its securities at below market prices if it experiences difficulty in obtaining such financing, which may adversely affect the value of the structured products owned by a Fund.
Structured products generally entail risks associated with derivative instruments.
Tax Risk
Each Fund has elected to be treated as a “regulated investment company” (a “RIC”) under the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”) and intends each year to qualify and be eligible to be treated as such, so that it generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on its net investment income or net short-term or long-term capital gains, that are distributed (or deemed distributed, as described below) to shareholders. In order to qualify and be eligible for such treatment, a
Fund must meet certain asset diversification tests, derive at least 90% of its gross income for such year from certain types of qualifying income, and distribute to its shareholders at least 90% of its “investment company taxable income” as that term is defined in the Code (which includes, among other things, dividends, taxable interest and the excess of any net short-term capital gains over net long-term capital losses, as reduced by certain deductible expenses).
A Fund’s investment strategy will potentially be limited by its intention to continue qualifying for treatment as a RIC and can limit a Fund’s ability to continue qualifying as such. The tax treatment of certain of a Fund’s investments under one or more of the qualification or distribution tests applicable to regulated investment companies is uncertain. An adverse determination or future guidance by the IRS or a change in law might affect a Fund’s ability to qualify or be eligible for treatment as a RIC. Income and gains from certain of a Fund’s activities may not constitute qualifying income to a RIC for purposes of the 90% gross income test. If a Fund were to treat income or gain from a particular investment or activity as qualifying income and the income or gain were later determined not to constitute qualifying income and, together with any other nonqualifying income, caused the Fund’s nonqualifying income to exceed 10% of its gross income in any taxable year, the Fund would fail to qualify as a RIC unless it is eligible to and does pay a tax at the Fund level.
If, in any year, a Fund were to fail to qualify for treatment as a RIC under the Code and were ineligible to or did not otherwise cure such failure, the Fund would be subject to tax on its taxable income at corporate rates and, when such income is distributed, shareholders would be subject to a further tax on such distributions to the extent of the Fund’s current or accumulated earnings and profits.
To qualify to pay exempt-interest dividends, which are treated as items of interest excludable from gross income for federal income tax purposes, at least 50% of the value of the total assets of a Fund must consist of obligations exempt from regular income tax as of the close of each quarter of the Fund’s taxable year. If the proportion of taxable investments held by a Fund exceeds 50% of the Fund’s total assets as of the close of any quarter of the Fund’s taxable year, the Fund will not for that taxable year satisfy the general eligibility test that otherwise permits it to pay exempt-interest dividends.
The value of a Fund’s investments and its net asset value may be adversely affected by changes in tax rates and policies. Because interest income from municipal securities is normally not subject to regular federal income taxation, the attractiveness of municipal securities in relation to other investment alternatives is affected by changes in federal income tax rates or changes in the tax‑exempt status of interest income from municipal securities. Any proposed or
actual changes in such rates or exempt status, therefore, can significantly affect the demand for and supply, liquidity and marketability of municipal securities. This could in turn affect a Fund’s net asset value and ability to acquire and dispose of municipal securities at desirable yield and price levels. Additionally, no Fund is a suitable investment for individual retirement accounts, for other tax‑exempt or tax‑deferred accounts or for investors who are not sensitive to the federal income tax consequences of their investments.
U.S. Government Securities Risk
Certain U.S. Government Securities such as U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds and mortgage-related securities guaranteed by the GNMA, are supported by the full faith and credit of the United States; others, such as those of Federal Home Loan Banks (“FHLBs”) or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (“FHLMC”), are supported by the right of the issuer to borrow from the U.S. Treasury; others, such as those of the FNMA, are supported by the discretionary authority of the U.S. Government to purchase the agency’s obligations; and still others are supported only by the credit of the agency, instrumentality or corporation. Although legislation has been enacted to support certain government sponsored entities, including the FHLBs, FHLMC and FNMA, there is no assurance that the obligations of such entities will be satisfied in full, or that such obligations will not decrease in value or default. It is difficult, if not impossible, to predict the future political, regulatory or economic changes that could impact the government sponsored entities and the values of their related securities or obligations. In addition, certain governmental entities, including FNMA and FHLMC, have been subject to regulatory scrutiny regarding their accounting policies and practices and other concerns that may result in legislation, changes in regulatory oversight and/or other consequences that could adversely affect the credit quality, availability or investment character of securities issued by these entities. Yields available from U.S. Government debt securities are generally lower than the yields available from such other securities. The values of U.S. Government Securities change as interest rates fluctuate.
Valuation Risk
Certain securities in which a Fund invests may be less liquid and more difficult to value than other types of securities. Investments for which market quotations are not readily available are valued at fair value as determined in good faith pursuant to Rule 2a‑5 under the 1940 Act. Fair value pricing may require subjective determinations about the value of a security or other asset. As a result, there can be no assurance that fair value pricing will result in adjustments to the prices of securities or other assets or that fair value pricing will reflect actual market value, and it is possible that the fair value determined for a security or other asset will be materially different from quoted or published prices, from the prices used by others for the same security
or other asset and/or from the value that actually could be or is realized upon the sale of that security or other asset.
Zero-Coupon Bond, Step‑Ups and Payment‑In‑Kind Securities Risk
The market prices of zero‑coupon, step‑ups and payment‑in‑kind securities are generally more volatile than the prices of securities that pay interest periodically and in cash, and are likely to respond to changes in interest rates to a greater degree than other types of debt securities with similar maturities and credit quality. Because zero‑coupon securities bear no interest, their prices are especially volatile. And because zero‑coupon bondholders do not receive interest payments, the prices of zero‑coupon securities generally fall more dramatically than those of bonds that pay interest on a current basis when interest rates rise. The market for zero‑coupon and payment‑in‑kind securities may suffer decreased liquidity. In addition, as these securities may not pay cash interest, the Fund’s investment exposure to these securities and their risks, including credit risk, will increase during the time these securities are held in the Fund’s portfolio. Further, to maintain its qualification for treatment as a RIC and to avoid Fund-level U.S. federal income and/or excise taxes, the Fund is required to distribute to its shareholders any income it is deemed to have received in respect of such investments, notwithstanding that cash has not been received currently, and the value of paid‑in‑kind interest. Consequently, the Fund may have to dispose of portfolio securities under disadvantageous circumstances to generate the cash, or may have to leverage itself by borrowing the cash to satisfy this distribution requirement. The required distributions, if any, would result in an increase in the Fund’s exposure to these securities. Zero coupon bonds, step‑ups and payment‑in‑kind securities allow an issuer to avoid or delay the need to generate cash to meet current interest payments and, as a result, may involve greater credit risk than bonds that pay interest currently or in cash. The Fund would be required to distribute the income on these instruments as it accrues, even though the Fund will not receive the income on a current basis or in cash. Thus, the Fund may sell other investments, including when it may not be advisable to do so, to make income distributions to its shareholders.
       
Effects of Leverage [Text Block]
The following table is furnished in response to requirements of the SEC. It is designed to illustrate the effects of leverage through the use of senior securities, as that term is defined under Section 18 of the 1940 Act, on Common Share total return, assuming investment portfolio total returns (consisting of income and changes in the value of investments held in a Fund’s portfolio) of ‑10%, ‑5%, 0%, 5% and 10%. The table below reflects each Fund’s continued use of reverse repurchase agreements, as applicable averaged over the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 as a percentage of total average managed assets (including assets attributable to such leverage), the estimated annual effective interest expense rate payable by the Fund on such instruments (based on market conditions as of December 31, 2022, and the annual return that the Fund’s portfolio must experience (net of expenses) in order to cover such costs of the reverse repurchase agreements based on such estimated annual effective interest expense rate. The information below does not reflect any Fund’s use of certain other forms of economic leverage achieved through the use of other
instruments or transactions not considered to be senior securities under the 1940 Act, such as covered credit default swaps or other derivative instruments.
The assumed investment portfolio returns in the table below are hypothetical figures and are not necessarily indicative of the investment portfolio returns experienced or expected to be experienced by the Fund. Your actual returns may be greater or less than those appearing below. In addition, actual borrowing expenses associated with reverse repurchase agreements (or dollar rolls or borrowings, if any) used by the Fund may vary frequently and may be significantly higher or lower than the rate used for the example below.
The information below does not reflect a Fund’s use of certain other forms of economic leverage achieved through the use of other instruments or transactions not considered to be senior securities under the 1940 Act, such as total return swaps or other derivative instruments.
         
Municipal
Income
Fund
(PMF)
   
Municipal
Income
Fund II
(PML)
   
Municipal
Income
Fund III
(PMX)
   
California
Municipal
Income
Fund
(PCQ)
   
California
Municipal
Income
Fund II
(PCK)
   
California
Municipal
Income
Fund III
(PZC)
   
New York
Municipal
Income
Fund
(PNF)
   
New York
Municipal
Income
Fund II
(PNI)
   
New York
Municipal
Income
Fund III
(PYN)
 
Preferred Shares as a Percentage of Total Managed Assets (Including Assets Attributable to Preferred Shares and TOBs)
      36.22     31.42     34.03     36.54     37.63     36.48     30.17     39.45     37.62
Estimated Annual Effective Preferred Share Dividend Rate
      6.01     6.01     6.01     5.98     6.01     6.05     6.05     6.00     5.94
TOBs as a Percentage of Total Managed Assets (Including Assets Attributable to Preferred Shares and TOBs)
      9.34     14.50     11.51     9.40     6.85     8.62     13.53     4.83     7.59
Estimated Annual Effective Interest Expense Rate Payable by Fund on TOBs
      1.35     1.43     1.34     1.30     1.36     1.31     1.01     1.37     1.02
Annual Return Fund Portfolio Must Experience (net of expenses) to Cover Estimated Annual Effective Preferred Share Dividend Rate and Interest Expense Rate on TOBs
      2.25     1.99     2.11     2.22     2.26     2.20     1.96     2.32     2.31
Common Share Total Return for (10.00)% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      (22.50 )%      (22.17 )%      (22.23 )%      (22.61 )%      (22.08 )%      (22.23 )%      (21.25 )%      (22.11 )%      (22.47 )% 
Common Share Total Return for (5.00)% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      (13.32 )%      (12.92 )%      (13.05 )%      (13.36 )%      (13.07 )%      (13.12 )%      (12.37 )%      (13.13 )%      (13.35 )% 
Common Share Total Return for 0.00% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      (4.13 )%      (3.68 )%      (3.87 )%      (4.11 )%      (4.07 )%      (4.01 )%      (3.49 )%      (4.16 )%      (4.22 )% 
Common Share Total Return for 5.00% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      5.05     5.57     5.31     5.14     4.94     5.09     5.40     4.82     4.91
Common Share Total Return for 10.00% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      14.23     14.81     14.49     14.39     13.94     14.20     14.28     13.79     14.03
Common Share total return is composed of two elements — the
distributions paid by a Fund to holders of Common Shares (the amount
of which is largely determined by the net investment income of the
Fund after paying dividends on Preferred Shares and expenses on any
forms of leverage outstanding, including TOBs) and gains or losses on
the value of the securities and other instruments the Fund owns. As
required by SEC rules, the table assumes that a Fund is more likely to
suffer capital losses than to enjoy capital appreciation. For example, to
assume a total return of 0%, a Fund must assume that the income it
receives on its investments is entirely offset by losses in the value of
those investments. This table reflects hypothetical performance of a
Fund’s portfolio and not the actual performance of the Fund’s Common
Shares, the value of which is determined by market forces and
other factors.
Should a Fund elect to add additional leverage to its portfolio, any
benefits of such additional leverage cannot be fully achieved until the
proceeds resulting from the use of such leverage have been received by
the Fund and invested in accordance with the Fund’s investment
objectives and policies. As noted above, a Fund’s willingness to use
additional leverage, and the extent to which leverage is used at any
time, will depend on many factors, including, among other things,
PIMCO’s assessment of the yield curve environment, interest rate
trends, market conditions and other factors.
       
Annual Interest Rate [Percent] 1.37%        
Annual Coverage Return Rate [Percent] 2.32%        
Effects of Leverage [Table Text Block]
         
Municipal
Income
Fund
(PMF)
   
Municipal
Income
Fund II
(PML)
   
Municipal
Income
Fund III
(PMX)
   
California
Municipal
Income
Fund
(PCQ)
   
California
Municipal
Income
Fund II
(PCK)
   
California
Municipal
Income
Fund III
(PZC)
   
New York
Municipal
Income
Fund
(PNF)
   
New York
Municipal
Income
Fund II
(PNI)
   
New York
Municipal
Income
Fund III
(PYN)
 
Preferred Shares as a Percentage of Total Managed Assets (Including Assets Attributable to Preferred Shares and TOBs)
      36.22     31.42     34.03     36.54     37.63     36.48     30.17     39.45     37.62
Estimated Annual Effective Preferred Share Dividend Rate
      6.01     6.01     6.01     5.98     6.01     6.05     6.05     6.00     5.94
TOBs as a Percentage of Total Managed Assets (Including Assets Attributable to Preferred Shares and TOBs)
      9.34     14.50     11.51     9.40     6.85     8.62     13.53     4.83     7.59
Estimated Annual Effective Interest Expense Rate Payable by Fund on TOBs
      1.35     1.43     1.34     1.30     1.36     1.31     1.01     1.37     1.02
Annual Return Fund Portfolio Must Experience (net of expenses) to Cover Estimated Annual Effective Preferred Share Dividend Rate and Interest Expense Rate on TOBs
      2.25     1.99     2.11     2.22     2.26     2.20     1.96     2.32     2.31
Common Share Total Return for (10.00)% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      (22.50 )%      (22.17 )%      (22.23 )%      (22.61 )%      (22.08 )%      (22.23 )%      (21.25 )%      (22.11 )%      (22.47 )% 
Common Share Total Return for (5.00)% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      (13.32 )%      (12.92 )%      (13.05 )%      (13.36 )%      (13.07 )%      (13.12 )%      (12.37 )%      (13.13 )%      (13.35 )% 
Common Share Total Return for 0.00% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      (4.13 )%      (3.68 )%      (3.87 )%      (4.11 )%      (4.07 )%      (4.01 )%      (3.49 )%      (4.16 )%      (4.22 )% 
Common Share Total Return for 5.00% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      5.05     5.57     5.31     5.14     4.94     5.09     5.40     4.82     4.91
Common Share Total Return for 10.00% Assumed Portfolio Total Return
      14.23     14.81     14.49     14.39     13.94     14.20     14.28     13.79     14.03
       
Return at Minus Ten [Percent] (22.11%)        
Return at Minus Five [Percent] (13.13%)        
Return at Zero [Percent] (4.16%)        
Return at Plus Five [Percent] 4.82%        
Return at Plus Ten [Percent] 13.79%        
Effects of Leverage, Purpose [Text Block]
The assumed investment portfolio returns in the table below are hypothetical figures and are not necessarily indicative of the investment portfolio returns experienced or expected to be experienced by the Fund. Your actual returns may be greater or less than those appearing below. In addition, actual borrowing expenses associated with reverse repurchase agreements (or dollar rolls or borrowings, if any) used by the Fund may vary frequently and may be significantly higher or lower than the rate used for the example below.
       
ARPS [Member]          
Financial Highlights [Abstract]          
Senior Securities Amount [1] $ 58,000,000 $ 58,000,000 $ 58,000,000 $ 58,000,000 $ 58,000,000
Senior Securities Coverage per Unit [1],[2] $ 56,845 $ 66,323 $ 65,730 $ 66,003 $ 62,655
Senior Securities Involuntary Liquidating Preference per Unit [1],[3] 25,000 25,000 25,000 25,000 25,000
Senior Securities Average Market Value per Unit [1],[4]
RVMTP [Member]          
Financial Highlights [Abstract]          
Senior Securities Amount [1],[5] $ 14,900,000 $ 21,000,000 $ 21,000,000 $ 21,000,000 $ 21,000,000
Senior Securities Coverage per Unit [1],[2],[5] $ 227,380 $ 265,290 $ 262,920 $ 264,010 $ 250,600
Senior Securities Involuntary Liquidating Preference per Unit [1],[3],[5] 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000 100,000
Senior Securities Average Market Value per Unit [1],[5],[6]
Common Shares [Member]          
Capital Stock, Long-Term Debt, and Other Securities [Abstract]          
Outstanding Security, Title [Text Block] Common Shares        
Outstanding Security, Held [Shares] 11,209        
[1] A zero balance may reflect actual amounts rounding to less than $0.01 or 0.01%.
[2] “Asset Coverage per Preferred Share” means the ratio that the value of the total assets of the Fund, less all liabilities and indebtedness not represented by ARPS or RVMTP, bears to the aggregate of the involuntary liquidation preference of ARPS or RVMTP, expressed as a dollar amount per ARPS or RVMTP.
[3] “Involuntary Liquidating Preference” means the amount to which a holder of ARPS or RVMTP would be entitled upon the involuntary liquidation of the Fund in preference to the Common Shareholders, expressed as a dollar amount per Preferred Share.
[4] The ARPS have no readily ascertainable market value. Auctions for the ARPS have failed since February 2008, there is currently no active trading market for the ARPS and the Fund is not able to reliably estimate what their value would be in a third-party market sale. The liquidation value of the ARPS represents its liquidation preference, which approximates fair value of the shares less any accumulated unpaid dividends. See Note 13, Auction Rate Preferred Shares, in the Notes to Financial Statements for more information.
[5] Prior to July 14, 2021, RVMTP Shares were VMTP Shares. See Note 13, Remarketable Variable Rate MuniFund Term Preferred Shares.
[6] The RVMTP have no readily ascertainable market value. The liquidation value of the RVMTP represents its liquidation preference, which approximates fair value of the shares less any unamortized debt issuance costs. See Note 13, Remarketable Variable Rate MuniFund Term Preferred Shares, in the Notes to Financial Statements for more information.