UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED

MANAGEMENT INVESTMENT COMPANIES

 

Investment Company Act file number		811-21293

Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund

 

(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

Nuveen Investments

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

 

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Kevin J. McCarthy

Nuveen Investments

333 West Wacker Drive

Chicago, IL 60606

 

(Name and address of agent for service)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:    (312) 917-7700                        

Date of fiscal year end:    July 31                                

Date of reporting period:    July 31, 2015                   

Form N-CSR is to be used by management investment companies to file reports with the Commission not later than 10 days after the transmission to stockholders of any report that is required to be transmitted to stockholders under Rule 30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (17 CFR 270.30e-1). The Commission may use the information provided on Form N-CSR in its regulatory, disclosure review, inspection, and policymaking roles.

A registrant is required to disclose the information specified by Form N-CSR, and the Commission will make this information public. A registrant is not required to respond to the collection of information contained in Form N-CSR unless the Form displays a currently valid Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) control number. Please direct comments concerning the accuracy of the information collection burden estimate and any suggestions for reducing the burden to Secretary, Securities and Exchange Commission, 450 Fifth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20549-0609. The OMB has reviewed this collection of information under the clearance requirements of 44 U.S.C. ss. 3507.

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ITEM 1. REPORTS TO STOCKHOLDERS.

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Closed-End Funds

 

		Nuveen Investments
		Closed-End Funds

 

 

 

 

						Annual Report  July 31, 2015
JPC
Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund
JPI
Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund
JPW
Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund

 

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Table

of Contents

 

Chairman’s Letter to Shareholders			4
Portfolio Managers’ Comments			5
Fund Leverage			15
Common Share Information			16
Risk Considerations			19
Performance Overview and Holding Summaries			20
Shareholder Meeting Report			26
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm			27
Portfolios of Investments			28
Statement of Assets and Liabilities			48
Statement of Operations			49
Statement of Changes in Net Assets			50
Statement of Cash Flows			52
Financial Highlights			54
Notes to Financial Statements			58
Additional Fund Information			73
Glossary of Terms Used in this Report			74
Reinvest Automatically, Easily and Conveniently			75
Annual Investment Management Agreement Approval Process			76
Board Members & Officers			84

 

Nuveen Investments			3

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Chairman’s Letter

to Shareholders

 

 

	4			Nuveen Investments

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Portfolio Managers’

Comments

 

Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund (JPC)

Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund (JPI)

Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund (JPW)

Nuveen Asset Management, LLC (NAM) and NWQ Investment Management Company, LLC (NWQ), affiliates of Nuveen Investments, Inc., are sub-advisers for the Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund (JPC). NAM and NWQ each manage approximately half of the Fund’s investment portfolio. Douglas Baker, CFA and Brenda Langenfeld, CFA, are the portfolio managers for the NAM team. The NWQ income-oriented investment team is led by Thomas J. Ray, CFA and Susi Budiman, CFA. Effective January 6, 2015, Thomas Ray replaced Michael J. Carne, CFA, who is no longer with the firm. Effective August 14, 2014, in an effort to broaden investment flexibility, the Fund changed its investment policies providing that up to 5% of the portion of the Fund’s portfolio managed by NAM can now be invested in preferred securities issued by companies located in emerging market countries.

The Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund (JPI) features management by Nuveen Asset Management, LLC (NAM), an affiliate of Nuveen Investments, Inc. Douglas Baker, CFA, and Brenda Langenfeld, CFA, have served as the Fund’s portfolio managers since its inception. Effective January 16, 2015, in an effort to broaden investment flexibility, the Fund changed its investment policies allowing at least 50% of its managed assets in securities rated investment grade and up to 50% of its managed assets in securities rated below investment grade.

The Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund (JPW) features portfolio management by NWQ Investment Management Company, LLC (NWQ), an affiliate of Nuveen Investments, Inc. Thomas J. Ray, CFA, and Susi Budiman, CFA, are the portfolio managers. Effective January 6, 2015, Thomas Ray replaced Michael J. Carne, CFA, who is no longer with the firm.

Here they discuss the U.S. economy and equity markets, their management strategies and the performance of the Funds for the twelve-month reporting period ended July 31, 2015.

What factors affected the U.S. economy and domestic and global markets during the twelve-month reporting period ended July 31, 2015?

During this reporting period, the U.S. economy continued to expand at a moderate pace. The Federal Reserve (Fed) maintained efforts to bolster growth and promote progress toward its mandates of maximum employment and price stability by holding the benchmark fed funds rate at the record low level of zero to 0.25% that it established in December 2008. At its October 2014 meeting, the Fed announced that it would end its bond-buying stimulus program as of November 1, 2014, after tapering its monthly asset purchases of mortgage-backed and longer-term Treasury securities from the original $85 billion per month to $15 billion per month over the course of seven consecutive meetings

 

 

Certain statements in this report are forward-looking statements. Discussions of specific investments are for illustration only and are not intended as recommendations of individual investments. The forward-looking statements and other views expressed herein are those of the portfolio managers as of the date of this report. Actual future results or occurrences may differ significantly from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements and the views expressed herein are subject to change at any time, due to numerous market and other factors. The Funds disclaim any obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking statements or views expressed herein.

Ratings shown are the highest rating given by one of the following national rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (Moody’s) or Fitch, Inc. (Fitch). Credit ratings are subject to change. AAA, AA, A and BBB are investment grade ratings; BB, B, CCC, CC, C and D are below investment grade ratings. Certain bonds backed by U.S. Government or agency securities are regarded as having an implied rating equal to the rating of such securities. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by these national rating agencies.

Refer to the Glossary of Terms Used in this Report for further definition of the terms used within this section.

 

Nuveen Investments			5

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Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

(December 2013 through September 2014). In making the announcement, the Fed cited substantial improvement in the outlook for the labor market since the inception of the current asset purchase program as well as sufficient underlying strength in the broader economy to support ongoing progress toward maximum employment in a context of price stability. The Fed also reiterated that it would continue to look at a wide range of factors, including labor market conditions, indicators of inflationary pressures and readings on financial developments, in determining future actions. Additionally, the Fed stated that it would likely maintain the current target range for the fed funds rate for a considerable time after the end of the asset purchase program, especially if projected inflation continues to run below the Fed’s 2% longer run goal. However, if economic data shows faster progress, the Fed indicated that it could raise the fed funds rate sooner than expected.

The Fed changed its language slightly in December, indicating it would be “patient” in normalizing monetary policy. This shift helped ease investors’ worries that the Fed might raise rates too soon. However, as employment data released early in the year continued to look strong, anticipation began building that the Fed could raise its main policy rate as soon as June. As widely expected, after its March meeting, the Fed eliminated “patient” from its statement but also highlighted the policy makers’ less optimistic view of the economy’s overall health as well as downgraded their inflation projections. The Fed’s April meeting seemed to further signal that a June rate hike was off the table. While the Fed attributed the first quarter’s economic weakness to temporary factors, the meeting minutes from April revealed that many Committee members believed the economic data available in June would be insufficient to meet the Fed’s criteria for initiating a rate increase. The June meeting bore out that presumption, and the Fed decided to keep the target rate near zero. But the Committee also continued to telegraph the likelihood of at least one rate increase in 2015, which many analysts forecasted for September. During the September 2015 meeting (subsequent to the close of this reporting period), the Fed decided to keep the federal funds rate near zero despite broad speculation it would increase rates. The Committee said it will keep the rate near zero until the economy has seen further improvement toward reaching the Fed’s goals of maximum employment and inflation approaching two percent.

According to the government’s revised estimate, the U.S. economy increased at a 3.7% annualized rate in the second quarter of 2015, as measured by GDP, compared with a decrease of 0.6% in the first quarter of 2015 and increases of 5.0% in the third quarter 2014 and 2.2% in the fourth quarter 2014. The increase in real GDP in the second quarter reflected positive contributions from personal consumption expenditures, exports, state and local government spending, and residential fixed investment that were partly offset by negative contributions from federal government spending, private inventory investment, and nonresidential fixed investment. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 0.1% year-over-year as of July 2015. The core CPI (which excludes food and energy) increased 0.1% during the same period, below the Fed’s unofficial longer term inflation objective of 2.0%. As of July 2015, the U.S. unemployment rate was 5.3%, a level not seen since mid-2008. This figure is also considered “full employment” by some Fed officials. The housing market continued to post consistent gains as of its most recent reading in June 2015. The average home price in the S&P/Case-Shiller Index of 20 major metropolitan areas rose 4.5% for the twelve months ended June 2015 (most recent data available at the time this report was prepared).

While the preferred market was positive for the reporting period, the $25 par market outperformed the $1,000 par market. The $1,000 par dominated Barclays Capital Securities Index posted a 3.3% return during the reporting period and the $25 par dominated BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index posted a 7.3% return.

What key strategies were used to manage the Funds during this twelve-month reporting period ended July 31, 2015 and how did these strategies influence performance?

Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund (JPC)

The table in the Performance Overview and Holding Summaries section of this report provides total return performance for the Fund for the one-year, five-year and ten-year periods ended July 31, 2015. For the twelve-month reporting

 

	6			Nuveen Investments

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period ended July 31, 2015, the Fund’s common shares at net asset value (NAV) outperformed the JPC Blended Index, but underperformed the BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index.

JPC invests at least 80% of its managed assets in preferred securities and up to 20% opportunistically over the market cycle in other types of securities, primarily income oriented securities such as corporate and taxable municipal debt and common equity. The Fund is managed by two experienced portfolio teams with distinctive, complementary approaches to the preferred market. NAM employs a debt-oriented approach that combines top down relative value analysis of industry sectors with fundamental credit analysis. NWQ’s investment process identifies undervalued securities within a company’s capital structure that offer the most attractive risk/reward potential. This multi-team approach gives investors access to a broader investment universe with greater diversification potential.

Nuveen Asset Management

For the portion of the Fund managed by NAM, we employed a credit-based investment approach, using a top-down process to position the Fund’s portfolio in a manner that reflects the investment team’s overall macro-economic outlook, while also incorporating a bottom-up approach that focuses on fundamental credit research, security structures, and option adjusted spread (OAS) analysis. We start by identifying the investable universe of $1,000 par and $25 par preferred securities. In an effort to capitalize on the inefficiencies between the different structure of the preferred securities market, we tactically and strategically shift capital between the $25 par exchange listed market and the $1,000 par over-the-counter market. Periods of volatility may drive notably different valuations between these two markets. This dynamic is often related to periodic differences in how retail and institutional markets perceive and price risk. Technical factors such as new issue supply may also influence the relative valuations between $25 par exchange listed structures and $1,000 par over-the-counter structures.

We will continue to monitor developments across the domestic and international financial markets, but we do not anticipate materially changing the Fund’s relative positioning or strategy in the near future. We feel that valuations on the $25 par retail side of the market have run slightly rich versus the $1,000 par institutional side of the market. We will likely maintain an overweight to $1,000 par securities as a result of this relative value opportunity, and because of our desire to position the Fund defensively against rising interest rates as discussed later in this report. We have been concerned about the potential impact of rising rates on preferred security valuations for several quarters now. As a result, we favor fixed-to-floating rate coupon structures which, have less interest rate sensitivity and almost no duration extension risk compared to traditional fixed-for-life coupon structures. Fixed-to-floating rate securities are more common on the $1,000 par side of the market, and thus another reason for our recent, and foreseeable, overweight to $1,000 par securities relative to the JPC Blended Index.

The population of “new generation” preferred securities, such as contingent capital securities (sometimes referred to as CoCos, Additional Tier 1 (AT1), and/or enhanced capital notes), have indeed become a meaningful presence within the preferred/hybrid security marketplace. We estimate that the CoCo market currently exceeds $110 billion outstanding, and could grow by an additional $150 billion over the next three to four years. As a reminder, current international bank capital standards outlined in Basel III require new Tier 1-qualifying securities to contain explicit loss-absorbing features upon the breach of certain predetermined capital thresholds. Some of these features include equity conversion, permanent write-down of principal and temporary write-down of principal with the possibility of future write-up when/if the issuer is able to replenish capital levels back above the Tier 1 threshold trigger. We have allocated modestly to this new universe of securities, focusing on those issuers that have, in our opinion, meaningful capital cushions above the mentioned capital thresholds and those issuers that have, or have nearly, issued their regulatory maximum amount of AT1 securities, which is typically 1.5% of the issuer’s risk-weighted assets.

With respect to the Fund’s allocation to lower investment grade and below investment grade securities, we continue to believe that these segments will, over the long term, provide a more compelling risk-adjusted return profile than higher

 

Nuveen Investments			7

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Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

rated preferred/hybrid securities. Lower rated securities are often overlooked by retail and institutional investors, and especially by investors with investment grade-only mandates. Below investment grade securities typically are not index eligible, limiting the potential investor base and frequently creating opportunities for the Fund within this particular segment of the asset class. While lower rated preferred securities may exhibit periods of higher price volatility, we believe the return potential is disproportionately higher due to inefficiencies inherent in the segment. In addition, this lower rated segment of the asset class tends to exhibit lower interest rate sensitivity than higher rated security structures. As a result, this allocation also helps express our defensive interest rate positioning in the Fund’s portfolio. It is important to note that preferred/hybrid securities are typically rated several notches below an issuer’s senior unsecured debt rating. Consequently, in most instances, a BB rated preferred/hybrid security has been issued by an entity with an investment grade senior unsecured credit rating of BBB or higher.

As mentioned previously, we seek to minimize the impact of higher rates on the market value of the portfolio by establishing a position in less interest rate sensitive structures. We also feel that rising interest rates are frequently the result of an improving macro-economic landscape, and likely one where the domestic economic recovery has continued to gain traction. In this type of environment risk premiums should shrink, reflecting the lower risk profile of the overall market, and subsequently credit spreads should also narrow. We believe therefore, that credit spread compression in the preferred security asset class should help mitigate the impact of rising interest rates.

Several factors negatively impacted relative performance including an overweight to the $1,000 par side of the market, an overweight to fixed-to-floating rate coupon structures, an overweight to USD denominated securities issued by non-U.S. domiciled issuers, an overweight to insurance company-issued preferred securities and an underweight to real estate investment trust (REIT) preferred securities. Modestly offsetting some of these factors was a broad overweight to the financial services sectors and corresponding underweights to the industrial and utility sectors.

With the $1,000 par dominated Barclays USD Capital Securities Index posting a 3.3% return during the reporting period and the $25 par dominated BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index posting a 7.3% return, the Fund’s meaningful overweight to $1,000 par structures detracted from its relative performance. Our overweight in the $1,000 par side of the market was heavily concentrated in fixed-to-floating rate coupon structures, which have lower interest rate sensitivity and lower duration extension risk compared to preferred/hybrid securities with standard fixed rate coupons. Given our outlook for gradually rising interest rates, the fixed-to-floating rate structures were a better fit for the Fund versus traditional fixed rate coupon securities. Unexpectedly, during the period interest rates actually decreased while the yield curve also flattened. The directional move in interest rates and reshaping of the curve worked against our overweight to fixed-to-floating rate security structures. We also feel that during the reporting period, investors became increasing complacent regarding interest rate risk. Couple this complacency with a continued low interest rate environment, retail investor demand for longer duration traditional fixed rate coupon surged as they increasingly stretched for income.

Given the disproportionate non-U.S. headline risk during the reporting period from areas like the Ukraine and Greece, the Fund’s relative overweight to non-U.S. domiciled issuers weighed slightly on relative performance as non-U.S. credits tended to underperform their U.S. counterparts.

Also detracting from performance was the Fund’s overweight to insurance company-issued preferreds. Despite continued positive fundamentals across the insurance sector and negligible insurance-related new issue supply, the space underperformed. Investor apprehension that issuers may not redeem certain fixed-to-floating rate structures at their first call date weighed on valuations. This sentiment was particularly focused on those securities with low back-end floating rate spreads. While we generally seek to hold securities with wider back-end floating rate coupon spreads, the Fund did own a few securities that suffered from this negative sentiment.

 

	8			Nuveen Investments

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Lastly, the Fund’s underweight to the REIT sector also detracted on a relative basis. The REIT preferred sector posted strong performance as demand from real estate-related strategies continued to attract meaningful investor flows during the period. As a result, the Fund’s underweight to the sector detracted marginally versus the JPC Blended Index.

Several factors positively contributed to performance. The Fund’s broad overweight to the financial services sector and corresponding underweight to the industrial and utility sectors was accretive to relative performance. With bank balance sheets flush with capital from recently introduced bank capital regulation and an insurance sector that has avoided meaningful catastrophic events, these sectors outperformed their industrial and utility counterparts.

NWQ Investment Management Company

For the portion of the Fund managed by NWQ, we seek to achieve high income and a measure of capital appreciation. While the Fund’s investments are primarily preferred securities, a portion of the Fund allows the flexibility to invest across the capital structure in any type of debt, preferred or equity securities offered by a particular company. The portfolio management team then evaluates all available investment choices within a selected company’s capital structure to determine the portfolio investment that may offer the most favorable risk-adjusted return potential. The Fund’s portfolio is constructed with an emphasis on seeking a sustainable level of income and an overall analysis for downside risk management.

A sharp decline in oil prices had a material impact on the capital markets, particularly during the beginning of the reporting period. Credit spreads widened, interest rates declined, energy stocks plummeted and volatility spiked. Crude oil prices began to fall in late June of 2014, as forecasts for global demand weakened and the outlook for global supply remained robust. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) decision at its November meeting to leave its production quota unchanged fueled a downward spiral in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI) ended the reporting period at $47.11/barrel, while Brent crude oil ended the reporting period at $52.11/barrel.

The drop in interest rates during the fourth quarter was global in scope as government bonds rallied and yield curves flattened around the world. A variety of factors led to the decline, including European economic woes, expectations for quantitative easing in Europe, slowing economic growth in the emerging markets, and global deflation fears. In the U.S., the decline in energy prices and falling European interest rates contributed to the decline of both intermediate- and long-term Treasury rates during the first half of the reporting period. The Treasury curve steepened as rates increased during the second quarter of 2015: the 10 to 30-year treasury yield spread sat at approximately 60 basis points (bps) for most of the first quarter 2015 but increased to 76 bps by the end of the second quarter. Similarly, the 2 to 10-year treasury yield spread increased 34 bps in the second quarter. Interest rate volatility increased from the beginning of the reporting period. We expect volatility to remain elevated as the timing of the Fed’s first interest rate increase continues to be in question and the turmoil in Greece may cause episodic flights to quality.

Despite heightened market volatility, preferred securities performed exceptionally well. The BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index returned 7.3% for the reporting period. Preferred prices benefited from the market’s demand for long duration and yield. We remain an active participant in both the $25 and $1,000 par preferred markets and intend to take advantage of any dislocations when opportunities arise. While the preferred market was positive for the reporting period, the BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index turned negative in the second quarter of 2015, returning -1.13%. Despite headline negative returns and increasing duration as rates rise, the preferred market held up comparatively well versus previous periods of rising interest rates, a result driven, we believe, by several positive technical and structural factors. First, the net supply of preferreds was very favorable for the market, particularly in the $25-par space. Second, most of the new issue supply has been in the form of $1,000-par, fixed-to-float (F2F) structures. F2F preferreds pay a fixed rate coupon for five or ten years, then float at a defined spread to LIBOR unless called by the issuer. These preferreds tend to have a lower duration profile compared to fixed-rate preferreds because investors expect most deals to be called at the first call date. We find the F2F preferreds also attract a more diverse

 

Nuveen Investments			9

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Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

group of investors looking to capture greater income and yield outside the traditional institutional and retail preferred buyer base. Finally, preferreds remain historically cheap relative to senior debt on a 5-year and 10-year basis.

Stock selection in the banking sector and overweight and stock selection in the financial sector positively contributed to performance, while our industrials and insurance sector holdings detracted from performance. Several of our holdings performed well during the reporting period, including Ally Financial Inc., Cobank Agricultural Credit Bank and Farm Credit Bank of Texas preferred stocks. These positions were supported by several technical and structural factors. Redemption of currently callable $25- and $1,000-par bank preferred issues and the net supply in the preferred space have provided favorable technical support for bank preferreds during the reporting period. Lastly, Gilead Sciences, Inc. generated a significant total return. The company is best known for its HIV franchise and budding HCV drug (Hepatitis C). We believe its HCV drug will be on the market longer than expected and achieve higher growth rates than anticipated due to strong international growth opportunities. Additionally, the company is expected to generate up to $20 billion in free cash flow per year over the next couple of years. This cash flow will likely be used to acquire a promising pipeline of new drugs to fuel future growth. It also has some interesting drug candidates in its pipeline. Finally, management has a tremendous record of finding the next big opportunity in the pharma marketplace. Gilead’s common stock trades under ten times expected earnings and free cash flow. We sold calls against part of the position.

Continued weakness in oil prices was a primary detractor to the Fund’s performance. The Fund’s energy related holdings lagged, including McDermott International Inc. second lien notes, Key Energy Services Inc. and BreitBurn Energy Partners (MLP) bonds. Energy-related securities performed poorly recently as oil prices declined given negative revisions of global oil demand, weaker macroeconomic news and a surging U.S. dollar. In response to the plunge in crude prices, as well as rising volatility in the energy space, we moved up the capital structure in our investments of several companies in the energy sector by selling their preferred securities or common stock and buying their respective senior debt with similar yield in an attempt to dampen volatility and improve portfolio quality. We believe the debt issues the Fund holds have a more than sufficient equity and/or dividend cushion and that dividends will be slashed well before the debt is threatened. During the latter part of the reporting period, we eliminated McDermott International, Key Energy Services and all our oil and gas master limited partnership (MLP) bond exposure when we saw the MLP credits were trading at too high a valuation given the current price of oil. In our estimation, they were being valued as if oil prices were sustainable at $80 to $90 a barrel.

During the reporting period, the Fund also wrote covered call options on common stocks to hedge equity exposure. These options had a positive impact on performance.

We have always been cognizant of the risk of an interest rate rise when making investment decisions, therefore, we think the Fund has been positioned to minimize potential rate impact through investments in shorter duration preferred securities such as those with higher coupon or fix-to-float structure as well as increasing exposure to other asset classes through security selection. Higher interest rates would decrease the call risk of bond holdings and conversely lower rates would increase the call risk of bond holdings, all other factors remaining constant. Effective duration would increase as interest rates rise.

Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund (JPI)

The table in the Performance Overview and Holding Summaries section of this report provides total return performance for the Fund for the one-year and since inception periods ended July 31, 2015. For the twelve-month reporting period ended July 31, 2015, the Fund’s shares at net asset value (NAV) underperformed both the JPI Blended Benchmark Index and the BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index.

The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective of providing a high level of current income and total return by investing in preferred securities and other income producing securities. The Fund’s portfolio is actively managed seeking to capitalize on strong and continuously improving credit fundamentals across our issuer base, coupled with historically

 

	10			Nuveen Investments

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wide credit spreads (the difference between current yields on preferred securities and U.S. Treasury Bonds and other fixed income benchmarks) for the preferred security asset class. The Fund’s strategy focuses opportunistically on highly regulated industries, like utilities, banks and insurance companies, with a current emphasis broadly on financial services companies.

We employed a credit-based investment approach, using a top-down process to position the Fund’s portfolio in a manner that reflects the investment team’s overall macro-economic outlook, while also incorporating a bottom-up approach that focuses on fundamental credit research, security structures, and option adjusted spread (OAS) analysis. We start by identifying the investable universe of $1,000 par and $25 par preferred securities. In an effort to capitalize on the inefficiencies between the different structure of the preferred securities market, we tactically and strategically shift capital between the $25 par exchange listed market and the $1,000 par over-the-counter market. Periods of volatility may drive notably different valuations between these two markets. This dynamic is often related to periodic differences in how retail and institutional markets perceive and price risk. Technical factors such as new issue supply may also influence the relative valuations between $25 par exchange listed structures and $1,000 par over-the-counter structures.

We will continue to monitor developments across the domestic and international financial markets, but we do not anticipate materially changing the Fund’s relative positioning or strategy in the near future. We feel that valuations on the $25 par retail side of the market have run slightly rich versus the $1,000 par institutional side of the market. We will likely maintain an overweight to $1,000 par securities as a result of this relative value opportunity and because of our desire to position defensively against rising interest rates as discussed later in this report. We have been concerned about the potential impact of rising rates on preferred security valuations for several quarters now. As a result, we favor fixed-to-floating rate coupon structures which, have less interest rate sensitivity and meaningfully less duration extension risk versus traditional fixed-for-life coupon structures. Fixed-to-floating rate securities are more common on the $1,000 par side of the market and thus another reason for our recent, and foreseeable, overweight to $1,000 par securities relative to the JPI Blended Benchmark Index.

The population of “new generation” preferred securities, such as contingent capital securities (sometimes referred to as CoCos, Additional Tier 1 (AT1) and/or enhanced capital notes), have become a meaningful presence within the preferred/hybrid security marketplace. We estimate that the CoCo market currently exceeds $110 billion outstanding and could grow by an additional $150 billion over the next three to four years. As a reminder, current international bank capital standards outlined in Basel III require new Tier 1-qualifying securities to contain explicit loss-absorbing features upon the breach of certain predetermined capital thresholds. Some of these features include equity conversion, permanent write-down of principal and temporary write-down of principal with the possibility of future write-up when/if the issuer is able to replenish capital levels back above the Tier 1 threshold trigger. We have allocated modestly to this new universe of securities, focusing on those issuers that have, in our opinion, meaningful capital cushions above the mentioned capital thresholds and those issuers that have, or have nearly, issued their regulatory maximum amount of AT1 securities, which is typically 1.5% of the issuer’s risk-weighted assets.

With respect to the Fund’s allocation to lower investment grade and below investment grade securities, we continue to believe that these segments will, over the long term, provide a more compelling risk-adjusted return profile than higher rated preferred/hybrid securities. Lower rated securities are often overlooked by retail and institutional investors and especially by investors with investment grade-only mandates. Below investment grade securities typically are not index eligible, limiting the potential investor base and frequently creating opportunities for the Fund within this particular segment of the asset class. While lower rated preferred securities may exhibit periods of higher price volatility, we believe the return potential is disproportionately higher due to inefficiencies inherent in the segment. In addition, this lower rated segment of the asset class tends to exhibit lower interest rate sensitivity than higher rated security structures. As a result, this allocation also helps express our defensive interest rate positioning in the portfolio. It is important to note that preferred/hybrid securities are typically rated several notches below an issuer’s senior unsecured debt

 

Nuveen Investments			11

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Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

rating. Consequently, in most instances, a BB rated preferred/hybrid security has been issued by an entity with an investment grade senior unsecured credit rating of BBB or higher.

As mentioned previously, we seek to minimize the impact of higher rates on the market value of the Fund’s portfolio by establishing a position in less interest rate sensitive structures. We also feel that rising interest rates are frequently the result of an improving macro-economic landscape, and one where the domestic economic recovery has likely gained meaningful traction. In this type of environment risk premiums should shrink, reflecting the lower risk profile of the overall market and, as a result, credit spreads should also narrow. We believe therefore, that credit spread compression in the preferred security asset class should help mitigate the impact of rising interest rates.

Several factors negatively impacted relative performance including an overweight to the $1,000 par side of the market, an overweight to fixed-to-floating rate coupon structures, an overweight to USD denominated securities issued by non-U.S. domiciled issuers, an overweight to insurance company-issued preferred securities and an underweight to real estate investment trust (REIT) preferred securities. Modestly offsetting some of these factors was a relative overweight to the financial services sectors and corresponding underweights to the industrial and utility sectors.

With the $1,000 par dominated Barclays USD Capital Securities Index posting a 3.3% return during the reporting period and the $25 par dominated BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index posting a 7.3% return, the Fund’s meaningful overweight to $1,000 par structures detracted from its relative performance. Our overweight in the $1,000 par side of the market was heavily concentrated in fixed-to-floating rate coupon structures, which, all else being equal, have lower interest rate sensitivity and lower duration extension risk compared to preferred/hybrid securities with standard fixed rate coupons. Given our outlook for gradually rising interest rates, the fixed-to-floating rate structures were a better match than traditional fixed rate coupon securities. However, during the reporting period interest rates actually decreased and the yield curve modestly flattened. On a relative basis then, the directional move in interest rates and reshaping of the curve worked against the overweight to fixed-to-floating rate security structures. We also feel that during the reporting period, investors became increasing complacent regarding interest rate risk. Couple investors’ complacency with interest rate risk and a continued low interest rate environment, investor demand for longer duration traditional fixed rate coupon increased as they stretched for income during the reporting period.

Given the disproportionate non-U.S. headline risk during the reporting period from areas like the Ukraine and Greece, the Fund’s relative overweight to non-U.S. domiciled issuers weighed slightly on relative performance as non-U.S. credits tended to underperform their U.S. counterparts.

Also detracting from performance was the Fund’s overweight to insurance company-issued preferreds. Despite continued positive fundamentals across the insurance sector, coupled with negligible new issue supply, the space underperformed as investors felt less confident that issuers would redeem securities with low back-end floating rate coupon spreads. While the Fund held only a few of these structures, they did weigh somewhat on relative performance.

Finally, the REIT preferred sector posted strong relative performance during the reporting period as demand from real estate-related strategies continued to attract meaningful investor flows. As a result, the Fund’s underweight to the sector detracted marginally from relative performance.

Offsetting some of these detractors was the Fund’s overweight to the financial services sector and underweight to the industrial and utility sectors. With bank balance sheets flush with capital from recently introduced bank capital regulation and an insurance sector that has avoided meaningful catastrophic events, these sectors outperformed their industrial and utility counterparts.

Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund (JPW)

The table in the Performance Overview and Holding Summaries section of this report provides total return performance for the Fund for the one-year and since inception periods ended July 31, 2015. For the twelve-month reporting period

 

	12			Nuveen Investments

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ended July 31, 2015, the Fund’s common shares at net asset value (NAV) outperformed the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index. Announced during the last reporting period, the Fund used the BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index as its primary benchmark. Presently, the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is the Fund’s primary benchmark because it better reflects how the Fund is being managed. The BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index remains a secondary benchmark for the Fund.

JPW invests at least 80% of its managed assets in income producing preferred, debt and equity securities issued by companies located anywhere in the world. Up to 50% of its managed assets may be in securities issued by non-U.S. companies, though all (100%) Fund assets will be in U.S. dollar-denominated securities. Up to 40% of its managed assets may consist of equity securities, not including preferred securities. Up to 75% of investments in debt and preferred securities that are of a type customarily rated by a credit rating agency, may be rated below investment grade, or if unrated, will be judged to be of comparable quality by NWQ. The Fund will invest at least 25% in securities issued by financial services companies.

The Fund’s investment objectives are to provide high current income and, secondarily, capital appreciation. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objectives by investing in undervalued securities with attractive investment characteristics. The Fund’s portfolio is actively managed by NWQ and has the flexibility to invest across the capital structure in any type of debt, preferred or equity securities offered by a particular company. The portfolio management team then evaluates all available investment choices within a selected company’s capital structure to determine the portfolio investment that may offer the most favorable risk-adjusted return potential. The Fund’s portfolio is constructed with an emphasis on seeking a sustainable level of income and an overall analysis for downside risk management.

A sharp decline in oil prices had a material impact on the capital markets, particularly during the beginning of the reporting period. Credit spreads widened, interest rates declined, energy stocks plummeted and volatility spiked. Crude oil prices began to fall in late June of 2014, as forecasts for global demand weakened and the outlook for global supply remained robust. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ (OPEC) decision at its November meeting to leave its production quota unchanged fueled a downward spiral in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil (WTI) ended the reporting period at $47.11/barrel, while Brent crude oil ended the reporting period at $52.11/barrel.

The drop in interest rates during the fourth quarter was global in scope as government bonds rallied and yield curves flattened around the world. A variety of factors led to the decline, including European economic woes, expectations for quantitative easing in Europe, slowing economic growth in the emerging markets, and global deflation fears. In the U.S., the decline in energy prices and falling European interest rates contributed to the decline of both intermediate- and long-term Treasury rates during the first half of the reporting period. The Treasury curve also steepened as rates increased during the second quarter of 2015: the 10 to 30-year treasury yield spread sat at approximately 60 basis points (bps) for most of the first quarter 2015 but increased to 76 bps by the end of the second quarter. Similarly, the 2 to 10-year treasury yield spread increased 34 bps in the second quarter. Interest rate volatility remained elevated from the beginning of the reporting period. We expect volatility to remain elevated as the timing of the Fed’s first interest rate increase continues to be in question and the turmoil in Greece may cause episodic flights to quality.

Despite heightened market volatility, preferred securities performed exceptionally well. The BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index returned 7.3% for the reporting period. Preferred prices benefited from the market’s demand for long duration and yield. We remain an active participant in both the $25 and $1,000 par preferred markets and intend to take advantage of any dislocations when opportunities arise. While the preferred market was positive for the reporting period, the BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index turned negative in the second quarter of 2015, returning -1.13%. Despite headline negative returns and increasing duration as rates rise, the preferred market held up comparatively well versus previous periods of rising interest rates, a result driven, we believe, by several positive technical and structural factors. First, the net supply of preferreds was very favorable for the market, particularly in the $25-par space. Second, most of the new issue supply has been in the form of $1,000-par, fixed-to-float (F2F)

 

Nuveen Investments			13

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Portfolio Managers’ Comments (continued)

 

structures. F2F preferreds pay a fixed rate coupon for five or ten years, then float at a defined spread to LIBOR unless called by the issuer. These preferreds tend to have a lower duration profile compared to fixed-rate preferreds because investors expect most deals to be called at the first call date. We find the F2F preferreds also attract a more diverse group of investors looking to capture greater income and yield outside the traditional institutional and retail preferred buyer base. Finally, preferreds remain historically cheap relative to senior debt on a 5-year and 10-year basis.

Our overweight and stock selection in the real estate and financial sector positively contributed to performance. Our overweight and stock selection in industrials sector holdings detracted from performance.

Several positions contributed to performance including Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital Inc., which is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that provides debt and equity financing to the energy efficiency and renewable energy markets. They focus on providing preferred or senior level capital to established sponsors and high credit quality obligors for assets that generate long-term, recurring and predictable cash flows. Hannon has a strong origination pipeline with higher asset yields. The company also forecasted 15-16% growth in 2015/16. We sold this position later in the reporting period. Also contributing to performance was New Residential Investment, another REIT that focuses on opportunistically investing in and actively managing, investments primarily related to residential real estate. During the reporting period, New Residential Investment acquired Home Loan Servicing Solutions (HLSS) which we believe will add to the company’s earnings per share. Lastly, Gilead Sciences Inc. generated a significant total return. The company is best known for its HIV franchise and budding HCV drug (Hepatitis C). We believe its HCV drug will be on the market longer than expected and achieve higher growth rates than anticipated due to strong international growth opportunities. Additionally, the company is expected to generate up to $20 billion in free cash flow per year over the next couple of years. This cash flow will likely be used to acquire a promising pipeline of new drugs to fuel future growth. It also has some interesting drug candidates in its pipeline. Finally, management has a tremendous record of finding the next big opportunity in the pharma marketplace. Gilead’s common stock trades under ten times expected earnings and free cash flow. We sold calls against part of the position.

Continued weakness in oil prices was the primary detractor from the Fund’s performance. The Fund’s energy related holdings lagged, including McDermott International Inc. second lien notes, as well as Key Energy Services Inc. and Linn Co. LLC common stocks. Energy-related securities performed poorly as oil prices declined given negative revisions of global oil demand, weaker macroeconomic news and a surging U.S. dollar. In response to the plunge in crude prices, as well as rising volatility in the energy space, we moved up the capital structure in our investments of several companies in the energy sector by selling their preferred securities or common stock and buying their respective senior debt with similar yield in an attempt to dampen volatility and improve portfolio quality. We believe the debt issues the Fund holds have a more than sufficient equity and/or dividend cushion and that dividends will be slashed well before the debt is threatened. During the latter part of the reporting period, we eliminated McDermott International, Linn Co. and all our oil and gas MLP bond exposure when we saw the MLP credits were trading at too high a valuation given the current price of oil. In our estimation, they were being valued as if oil prices were sustainable at $80 to $90 a barrel.

During the reporting period, the Fund also wrote covered call options on common stocks to hedge equity exposure. These options had a positive impact on performance.

We have always been cognizant of the risk of an interest rate rise when making investment decisions, therefore, we think the Fund has been positioned to minimize potential rate impact through investments in shorter duration preferred securities such as those with higher coupon or fix-to-float structure as well as increasing exposure to other asset classes through security selection. Higher interest rates would decrease the call risk of bond holdings and conversely lower rates would increase the call risk of bond holdings, all other factors remaining constant. Effective duration would increase as interest rates rise.

 

	14			Nuveen Investments

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Fund

Leverage

 

IMPACT OF THE FUNDS’ LEVERAGE STRATEGIES ON PERFORMANCE

One important factor impacting the return of the Funds relative to their benchmarks was the Funds’ use of leverage through the use of bank borrowings. The Funds use leverage because our research has shown that, over time, leveraging provides opportunities for additional income and total return for common shareholders. However, use of leverage also can expose common shareholders to additional volatility. For example, as the prices of securities held by a Fund decline, the negative impact of these valuation changes on common share NAV and common shareholder total return is magnified by the use of leverage. Conversely, leverage may enhance common share returns during periods when the prices of securities held by a Fund generally are rising. The Funds’ use of leverage had a positive impact on performance during this reporting period.

JPC and JPI continued to use swap contracts to partially fix the interest cost of leverage, which as mentioned previously, is through the use of bank borrowings. During this reporting period, these swap contracts detracted from overall Fund performance.

As of July 31, 2015, the Funds’ percentages of leverage are shown in the accompanying table.

 

		JPC				JPI				JPW
Effective Leverage*			28.52	%			28.44	%			30.34	%
Regulatory Leverage*			28.52	%			28.44	%			30.34	%

*

Effective leverage is the Fund’s effective economic leverage, and includes both regulatory leverage and the leverage effects of certain derivative and other investments in a Fund’s portfolio that increase the Fund’s investment exposure. Regulatory leverage consists of preferred shares issued or borrowings of the Fund. Both of these are part of the Fund’s capital structure. Regulatory leverage is subject to asset coverage limits set forth in the Investment Company Act of 1940.

THE FUNDS’ REGULATORY LEVERAGE

Bank Borrowings

The Funds employ regulatory leverage through the use of bank borrowings. As of July 31, 2015, the Funds’ outstanding bank borrowings are as shown in the accompanying table.

 

		JPC				JPI				JPW
Bank Borrowings		$	404,100,000			$	225,000,000			$	30,000,000

Refer to Notes to Financial Statements, Note 8 – Borrowing Arrangements for further details.

 

Nuveen Investments			15

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Common Share

Information

 

JPC AND JPI COMMON SHARE DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION

The following information regarding JPC’s and JPI’s distributions is as of July 31, 2015. Each Fund’s distribution

levels may vary over time based on each Fund’s investment activity and portfolio investment value changes.

During the current reporting period, each Fund’s distributions to common shareholders were as shown in the accompanying table.

 

		Per Common Share Amounts
Ex-Dividend Date		JPC				JPI
August 2014		$	0.0633			$	0.1580
September			0.0633				0.1580
October			0.0633				0.1580
November			0.0633				0.1580
December			0.0633				0.1580
January			0.0633				0.1595
February			0.0633				0.1595
March			0.0655				0.1595
April			0.0655				0.1595
May			0.0655				0.1595
June			0.0670				0.1625
July 2015			0.0670				0.1625
Ordinary Income Distribution*		$	—			$	0.0264
Long-Term Capital Gain*			—				—
Short-Term Capital Gain*			—				—
Current Distribution Rate**			8.75	%			8.75	%

*	Distribution paid in December 2014.

**

Current distribution rate is based on the Fund’s current annualized monthly distribution divided by the Fund’s current market price. The Fund’s monthly distributions to its shareholders may be comprised of ordinary income, net realized capital gains and, if at the end of the fiscal year the Fund’s cumulative net ordinary income and net realized gains are less than the amount of the Fund’s distributions, a return of capital for tax purposes.

JPC and JPI seek to pay regular monthly dividends out of their net investment income at a rate that reflects their past and projected net income performance. To permit each Fund to maintain a more stable monthly dividend, the Fund may pay dividends at a rate that may be more or less than the amount of net income actually earned by the Fund during the period. If a Fund has cumulatively earned more than it has paid in dividends, it will hold the excess in reserve as undistributed net investment income (UNII) as part of the Fund’s net asset value. Conversely, if a Fund has cumulatively paid in dividends more than it has earned, the excess will constitute a negative UNII that will likewise be reflected in the Fund’s net asset value. Each Fund will, over time, pay all its net investment income as dividends to shareholders.

As of July 31, 2015, JPC and JPI had positive UNII balances for tax purposes and positive UNII balances for financial reporting purposes.

All monthly dividends paid by JPC and JPI during the current reporting period, were paid from net investment income. If a portion of the Funds’ monthly distributions were sourced from or comprised of elements other than net investment income, including capital gains and/or a return of capital, shareholders would have received a notice to that effect. For financial reporting purposes, the composition and per share amounts of the Funds’ dividends for the reporting period are presented in this report’s Statement of Changes in Net Assets and Financial Highlights, respectively. For income tax purposes, distribution information for the Funds as of their most recent tax year end is presented in Note 6 – Income Tax Information within the Notes to Financial Statements of this report.

 

	16			Nuveen Investments

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JPW DISTRIBUTION INFORMATION

The following information regarding JPW’s distributions is as of July 31, 2015, the Fund’s fiscal and tax year end, and may differ from previously issued distribution notifications.

The Fund has a cash flow-based distribution program. Under this program, the Fund seeks to maintain an attractive and stable regular distribution based on the Fund’s net cash flow received from its portfolio investments. Fund distributions are not intended to include expected portfolio appreciation; however, the Fund invests in securities that make payments which ultimately may be fully or partially treated as gains or return of capital for tax purposes. This tax treatment will generally “flow through” to the Fund’s distributions, but the specific tax treatment is often not known with certainty until after the end of the Fund’s tax year. As a result, regular distributions throughout the year are likely to be re-characterized for tax purposes as either long-term gains (both realized and unrealized), or as a non-taxable return of capital.

The figures in the table below provide the sources (for tax purposes) of the Fund’s distributions as of July 31, 2015. These sources include amounts attributable to realized gains and/or returns of capital. The information shown below is for the distributions paid on common shares for all prior months in the current fiscal year. These amounts should not be used for tax reporting purposes, and the distribution sources may differ for financial reporting than for tax reporting. The final determination of the tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2015 will be made in early 2016 and reported to you on Form 1099-DIV. More details about the tax characteristics of the Fund’s distributions are available on www.nuveen.com/CEFdistributions.

Data as of 7/31/2015

 

Fiscal YTD Percentage of Distributions																Fiscal YTD Per Share Amounts
Net Investment Income				Long-Term Capital Gains				Short-Term Capital Gains				Return of Capital				Total Distributions				Net Investment Income				Long-Term Capital Gains				Short-Term Capital Gains				Return of Capital
	75.0%				10.2%				14.8%				0.0%				$1.960				$1.470				$0.200				$0.290				$0.00

The following table provides information regarding fund distributions and total return performance over various time periods. This information is intended to help you better understand whether fund returns for the specified time periods were sufficient to meet fund distributions.

Data as of 7/31/2015

 

Annualized

Cumulative

Inception Date

Latest Monthly Per Share Distribution

Current Distribution on NAV

1-Year Return on NAV

Since Inception Return on NAV

Calendar YTD Distributions on NAV

Calendar YTD Return on NAV

6/25/2013

$0.1260

8.13%

3.19%

7.64%

4.74%

4.99%

COMMON SHARE REPURCHASES

During August 2015 (subsequent to the close of this reporting period), the Funds’ Board of Trustees reauthorized an open-market share repurchase program, allowing each Fund to repurchase an aggregate of up to approximately 10% of its outstanding shares.

As of July 31, 2015, and since the inception of the Funds’ repurchase programs, the Funds have cumulatively repurchased and retired their outstanding common shares as shown in the accompanying table.

 

		JPC				JPI				JPW
Common shares cumulatively repurchased and retired			2,826,100				0				0
Common shares authorized for repurchase			9,690,000				2,275,000				370,000

 

Nuveen Investments			17

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Common Share Information (continued)

 

During the current reporting period, the Funds repurchased and retired common shares at a weighted average price per share and a weighted average discount per common share as shown in the accompanying table.

 

		JPC				JPI				JPW
Common shares repurchased and retired			88,813				0				0
Weighted average price per common share repurchased and retired			$9.27				$0				$0
Weighted average discount per common share repurchased and retired			12.73	%			0	%			0	%

OTHER COMMON SHARE INFORMATION

As of July 31, 2015, and during the current reporting period, the Funds’ common share prices were trading at a premium/(discount) to their common share NAVs as shown in the accompanying table.

 

		JPC				JPI				JPW
Common share NAV			$10.45				$24.88				$18.59
Common share price			$9.19				$22.28				$16.30
Premium/(Discount) to NAV			(12.06	)%			(10.45	)%			(12.32	)%
12-month average premium/(discount) to NAV			(10.66	)%			(8.32	)%			(10.05	)%

 

	18			Nuveen Investments

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Risk

Considerations

 

Fund shares are not guaranteed or endorsed by any bank or other insured depository institution, and are not federally insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund (JPC)

Investing in closed-end funds involves risk; principal loss is possible. There is no guarantee the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. Closed-end fund shares may frequently trade at a discount or premium to their net asset value. Preferred securities are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure, and therefore are subject to greater credit risk. Debt or fixed income securities such as those held by the Fund, are subject to market risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, derivatives risk, liquidity risk, and income risk. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall. Lower credit debt securities may be more likely to fail to make timely interest or principal payments. Leverage increases return volatility and magnifies the Fund’s potential return and its risks; there is no guarantee a fund’s leverage strategy will be successful. These and other risk considerations such as concentration and foreign securities risk are described in more detail on the Fund’s web page at www.nuveen.com/JPC.

Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund (JPI)

Investing in closed-end funds involves risk; principal loss is possible. There is no guarantee the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. Closed-end fund shares may frequently trade at a discount or premium to their net asset value. Preferred securities are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure, and therefore are subject to greater credit risk. Debt or fixed income securities such as those held by the Fund, are subject to market risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, derivatives risk, liquidity risk, and income risk. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall. Lower credit debt securities may be more likely to fail to make timely interest or principal payments. Leverage increases return volatility and magnifies the Fund’s potential return and its risks; there is no guarantee a fund’s leverage strategy will be successful. For these and other risks, including the Fund’s limited term and concentration risk, see the Fund’s web page at www.nuveen.com/JPI.

Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund (JPW)

Investing in closed-end funds involves risk; principal loss is possible. There is no guarantee the Fund’s investment objectives will be achieved. Closed-end fund shares may frequently trade at a discount or premium to their net asset value. Preferred securities are subordinated to bonds and other debt instruments in a company’s capital structure, and therefore are subject to greater credit risk. Debt or fixed income securities such as those held by the Fund, are subject to market risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, derivatives risk, liquidity risk, and income risk. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall. Lower credit debt securities may be more likely to fail to make timely interest or principal payments. Prices of equity securities may decline significantly over short or extended periods of time. Leverage increases return volatility and magnifies the Fund’s potential return and its risks; there is no guarantee a fund’s leverage strategy will be successful. For these and other risks such as concentration and foreign securities risk, please see the Fund’s web page at www.nuveen.com/JPW.

 

Nuveen Investments			19

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JPC

 

Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund

Performance Overview and Holding Summaries as of July 31, 2015

 

Refer to the Glossary of Terms Used in this Report for further definition of the terms used within this section.

Average Annual Total Returns as of July 31, 2015

 

		Average Annual
		1-Year				5-Year				10-Year
JPC at Common Share NAV			5.36%				11.55%				5.00%
JPC at Common Share Price			6.76%				12.24%				5.46%
JPC Blended Index (Comparative Benchmark)			3.04%				8.96%				6.10%
BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index			7.30%				7.33%				3.00%

Past performance is not predictive of future results. Current performance may be higher or lower than the data shown. Returns do not reflect the deduction of taxes that shareholders may have to pay on Fund distributions or upon the sale of Fund shares. Returns at NAV are net of Fund expenses and assume reinvestment of distributions. Comparative index return information is provided for the Fund’s shares at NAV only. Indexes are not available for direct investment.

Common Share Price Performance — Weekly Closing Price

 

	20			Nuveen Investments

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This data relates to the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio of investments as of the end of the reporting period. It should not be construed as a measure of performance for the Fund itself. Holdings are subject to change.

Ratings shown are the highest rating given by one of the following national rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s Group, Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or Fitch, Inc. Credit ratings are subject to change. AAA, AA, A and BBB are investment grade ratings; BB, B, CCC, CC, C and D are below-investment grade ratings. Certain bonds backed by U.S. Government or agency securities are regarded as having an implied rating equal to the rating of such securities. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by these national rating agencies.

 

 

1	Excluding investments in derivatives.

 

Nuveen Investments			21

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JPI

 

Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund

Performance Overview and Holding Summaries as of July 31, 2015

 

Refer to the Glossary of Terms Used in this Report for further definition of the terms used within this section.

Average Annual Total Returns as of July 31, 2015

 

		Average Annual
		1-Year				Since Inception
JPI at Common Share NAV			5.30%				10.24%
JPI at Common Share Price			4.83%				5.25%
BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index			7.30%				5.81%
JPI Blended Benchmark Index			5.91%				6.12%

Since inception returns are from 7/26/12. Past performance is not predictive of future results. Current performance may be higher or lower than the data shown. Returns do not reflect the deduction of taxes that shareholders may have to pay on Fund distributions or upon the sale of Fund shares. Returns at NAV are net of Fund expenses and assume reinvestment of distributions. Comparative index return information is provided for the Fund’s shares at NAV only. Indexes are not available for direct investment.

Common Share Price Performance — Weekly Closing Price

 

 

	22			Nuveen Investments

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This data relates to the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio of investments as of the end of the reporting period. It should not be construed as a measure of performance for the Fund itself. Holdings are subject to change.

Ratings shown are the highest rating given by one of the following national rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s Group, Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or Fitch, Inc. Credit ratings are subject to change. AAA, AA, A and BBB are investment grade ratings; BB, B, CCC, CC, C and D are below-investment grade ratings. Certain bonds backed by U.S. Government or agency securities are regarded as having an implied rating equal to the rating of such securities. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by these national rating agencies.

 

 

1	Excluding investments in derivatives.

 

Nuveen Investments			23

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JPW

 

Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund

Performance Overview and Holding Summaries as of July 31, 2015

 

Refer to the Glossary of Terms Used in this Report for further definition of the terms used within this section.

Average Annual Total Returns as of July 31, 2015

 

		Average Annual
		1-Year				Since Inception
JPW at Common Share NAV			3.19%				7.64%
JPW at Common Share Price			(0.02)%				(0.11)%
Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Index			2.82%				3.68%
BofA/Merrill Lynch Preferred Securities Fixed Rate Index			7.30%				8.16%

Since inception returns are from 6/25/13. Past performance is not predictive of future results. Current performance may be higher or lower than the data shown. Returns do not reflect the deduction of taxes that shareholders may have to pay on Fund distributions or upon the sale of Fund shares. Returns at NAV are net of Fund expenses and assume reinvestment of distributions. Comparative index return information is provided for the Fund’s shares at NAV only. Indexes are not available for direct investment.

Common Share Price Performance — Weekly Closing Price

 

 

	24			Nuveen Investments

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This data relates to the securities held in the Fund’s portfolio of investments as of the end of the reporting period. It should not be construed as a measure of performance for the Fund itself. Holdings are subject to change.

Ratings shown are the highest rating given by one of the following national rating agencies: Standard & Poor’s Group, Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. or Fitch, Inc. Credit ratings are subject to change. AAA, AA, A and BBB are investment grade ratings; BB, B, CCC, CC, C and D are below-investment grade ratings. Certain bonds backed by U.S. Government or agency securities are regarded as having an implied rating equal to the rating of such securities. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by these national rating agencies.

 

 

1	Excluding investments in derivatives.

 

Nuveen Investments			25

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Shareholder

Meeting Report

 

The annual meeting of shareholders was held in the offices of Nuveen Investments on March 26, 2015 for JPC, JPI and JPW; at this meeting the shareholders were asked to elect Board Members.

 

		JPC				JPI				JPW
		Common Shares				Common Shares				Common Shares
Approval of the Board Members was reached as follows:
William Adams IV
For			—				19,026,033				—
Withhold			—				285,817				—
Total			—				19,311,850				—
Jack B. Evans
For			78,976,631				19,023,587				3,142,187
Withhold			4,259,764				288,263				128,920
Total			83,236,395				19,311,850				3,271,107
David J. Kundert
For			—				19,023,668				—
Withhold			—				288,182				—
Total			—				19,311,850				—
John K. Nelson
For			—				19,031,453				—
Withhold			—				280,397				—
Total			—				19,311,850				—
William J. Schneider
For			79,002,026				19,033,183				3,142,187
Withhold			4,234,369				278,667				128,920
Total			83,236,395				19,311,850				3,271,107
Thomas S. Schreier, Jr.
For			79,028,871				19,009,304				3,120,796
Withhold			4,207,524				302,546				150,311
Total			83,236,395				19,311,850				3,271,107
Terence J. Toth
For			—				19,034,578				—
Withhold			—				277,272				—
Total			—				19,311,850				—

 

	26			Nuveen Investments

---

Report of

Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

 

To the Board of Trustees and Shareholders of

Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund

Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund

Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund:

We have audited the accompanying statements of assets and liabilities, including the portfolios of investments, of Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund, Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund and Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund (the “Funds”) as of July 31, 2015, and the related statements of operations, changes in net assets and cash flows and the financial highlights for the year then ended. These financial statements and financial highlights are the responsibility of the Funds’ management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements and financial highlights based on our audits. The statements of changes in net assets and the financial highlights for the periods presented through July 31, 2014, were audited by other auditors whose reports dated September 25, 2014, expressed unqualified opinions on those statements and those financial highlights.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements and financial highlights are free of material misstatement. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our procedures included confirmation of securities owned as of July 31, 2015, by correspondence with the custodian and brokers or other appropriate auditing procedures. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall financial statement presentation. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

In our opinion, the financial statements and financial highlights referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Funds as of July 31, 2015, the results of their operations, the changes in their net assets, their cash flows and the financial highlights for the year then ended, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

/s/ KPMG LLP

Chicago, Illinois

September 29, 2015

 

Nuveen Investments			27

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JPC

 

Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund
Portfolio of Investments		July 31, 2015

 

Shares				Description (1)												Value
				LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS – 139.1% (99.1% of Total Investments)
				COMMON STOCKS – 7.2% (5.1% of Total Investments)
				Air Freight & Logistics – 0.5%
	53,300			United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B												$	5,455,788
				Automobiles – 0.4%
	289,200			Ford Motor Company, (2)													4,288,836
				Biotechnology – 0.9%
	76,400			Gilead Sciences, Inc., (2)													9,004,504
				Capital Markets – 0.8%
	220,435			Ares Capital Corporation, (3)													3,546,799
	239,300			Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc., (3)													2,675,374
	122,832			TPG Specialty Lending, Inc.													2,186,410
				Total Capital Markets													8,408,583
				Insurance – 0.4%
	105,800			Unum Group													3,791,872
				Machinery – 0.3%
	40,800			Caterpillar Inc., (2)													3,208,104
				Media – 0.2%
	112,000			National CineMedia, Inc.													1,736,000
				Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 0.4%
	43,500			Phillips 66, (2)													3,458,250
				Pharmaceuticals – 1.1%
	125,200			AstraZeneca PLC, Sponsored ADR													4,230,508
	148,800			GlaxoSmithKline PLC													6,463,872
				Total Pharmaceuticals													10,694,380
				Real Estate Investment Trust – 1.0%
	265,200			National Storage Affiliates Trust													3,137,316
	269,562			New Residential Investment, (3)													4,229,428
	194,575			Northstar Realty Finance Corporation, (3)													3,113,200
				Total Real Estate Investment Trust													10,479,944
				Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals – 1.0%
	162,100			NetApp, Inc.													5,049,415
	96,800			Seagate Technology, (2)													4,898,080
				Total Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals													9,947,495
				Tobacco – 0.2%
	77,463			Vector Group Ltd.													1,961,363
				Total Common Stocks (cost $72,471,508)													72,435,119
Shares				Description (1)		Coupon						Ratings (4)				Value
				$25 PAR (OR SIMILAR) RETAIL PREFERRED – 64.4% (45.9% of Total Investments)
				Banks – 12.3%
	15,202			Boston Private Financial Holdings Inc.			6.950%						N/R			$	390,843

 

	28			Nuveen Investments

---

Shares				Description (1)		Coupon						Ratings (4)				Value
				Banks (continued)
	150,393			Citigroup Inc.			8.125%						BB+			$	4,456,145
	559,998			Citigroup Inc.			7.125%						BB+				15,651,944
	270,369			Citigroup Inc.			6.875%						BB+				7,413,518
	200,575			City National Corporation			6.750%						Baa2				5,806,646
	288,251			Countrywide Capital Trust III			7.000%						BBB–				7,367,696
	131,060			Cowen Group, Inc.			8.250%						N/R				3,512,408
	152,203			Fifth Third Bancorp., (3)			6.625%						Baa3				4,272,338
	117,760			First Naigara Finance Group			8.625%						BB–				3,208,960
	39,731			First Republic Bank of San Francisco			6.200%						BBB–				1,039,760
	123,900			FNB Corporation			7.250%						Ba2				3,554,691
	138,932			HSBC Holdings PLC			8.000%						Baa1				3,617,789
	46,421			PNC Financial Services			6.125%						Baa2				1,278,898
	260,212			Private Bancorp Incorporated			7.125%						N/R				6,877,403
	304,458			RBS Capital Trust			6.080%						BB–				7,593,183
	79,430			Regions Financial Corporation			6.375%						BB				2,038,174
	469,575			Regions Financial Corporation			6.375%						BB				12,392,084
	133,300			TCF Financial Corporation			7.500%						BB–				3,584,437
	132,100			Texas Capital Bancshares Inc.			6.500%						Ba2				3,314,389
	149,800			U.S. Bancorp.			6.500%						A3				4,294,766
	216,373			Webster Financial Corporation			6.400%						Baa3				5,495,874
	170,400			Wells Fargo & Company			6.625%						BBB				4,737,120
	107,000			Wells Fargo REIT			6.375%						BBB+				2,805,540
	187,983			Zions Bancorporation			7.900%						BB–				5,214,648
	196,000			Zions Bancorporation			6.300%						BB–				5,158,720
				Total Banks													125,077,974
				Capital Markets – 8.8%
	130,200			Apollo Investment Corporation			6.875%						BBB				3,351,348
	112,775			Apollo Investment Corporation			6.625%						BBB				2,854,335
	1,837			Arlington Asset Investment Corporation			6.625%						N/R				45,007
	188,895			Capitala Finance Corporation			7.125%						N/R				4,890,492
	133,500			Charles Schwab Corporation, (WI/DD)			6.000%						BBB				3,356,190
	150,400			Fifth Street Finance Corporation			6.125%						BBB–				3,760,000
	60,700			Gladstone Capital Corporation			6.750%						N/R				1,552,099
	49,642			Gladstone Investment Corporation			7.125%						N/R				1,298,635
	21,700			Goldman Sachs Group Inc.			6.375%						Ba1				576,786
	179,600			Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.			5.500%						Ba1				4,461,264
	121,700			Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.			7.000%						N/R				3,087,529
	56,512			Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.			7.000%						N/R				1,424,102
	163,458			Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.			6.250%						N/R				4,124,045
	37,355			JMP Group Inc.			7.250%						N/R				960,771
	284,951			Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc.			8.000%						N/R				7,052,537
	34,375			Medley Capital Corporation			6.125%						N/R				858,688
	827,700			Morgan Stanley			7.125%						Ba1				23,159,045
	231,700			Morgan Stanley			6.875%						Ba1				6,295,289
	142,869			MVC Capital Incorporated			7.250%						N/R				3,548,866
	261,622			Solar Capital Limited			6.750%						BBB–				6,543,166
	72,375			THL Credit Inc.			6.750%						N/R				1,853,524
	160,678			Triangle Capital Corporation			6.375%						N/R				4,081,221
				Total Capital Markets													89,134,939
				Consumer Finance – 1.3%
	48,000			Capital One Financial Corporation			6.700%						Baa3				1,295,520
	272,000			Discover Financial Services			6.500%						BB–				7,167,200
	90,659			SLM Corporation, Series A			6.970%						B1				4,366,137
				Total Consumer Finance													12,828,857
				Diversified Financial Services – 2.4%
	72,291			KCAP Financial Inc.			7.375%						N/R				1,826,794
	30,291			KKR Financial Holdings LLC			7.500%						A–				825,733
	325,399			KKR Financial Holdings LLC			7.375%						BBB				8,600,296
	167,367			Main Street Capital Corporation			6.125%						N/R				4,226,017
	113,370			Oxford Lane Capital Corporation			8.125%						N/R				2,858,058

 

Nuveen Investments			29

---

JPC		Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund
		Portfolio of Investments (continued)		July 31, 2015

 

Shares				Description (1)		Coupon						Ratings (4)				Value
				Diversified Financial Services (continued)
	121,250			Oxford Lane Capital Corporation			7.500%						N/R			$	2,926,975
	125,300			PennantPark Investment Corporation			6.250%						BBB–				3,136,259
				Total Diversified Financial Services													24,400,132
				Diversified Telecommunication Services – 1.0%
	50,000			Qwest Corporation			6.125%						BBB–				1,257,500
	128,265			Qwest Corporation			7.000%						BBB–				3,347,717
	137,015			Qwest Corporation			6.875%						BBB–				3,577,462
	57,500			Verizon Communications Inc.			5.900%						A–				1,498,450
				Total Diversified Telecommunication Services													9,681,129
				Electric Utilities – 0.3%
	136,900			Entergy Arkansas Inc., (5)			6.450%						BB+				3,456,725
				Food Products – 2.9%
	249,300			CHS Inc.			7.875%						N/R				7,085,106
	410,600			CHS Inc., (3)			7.100%						N/R				11,176,531
	444,804			CHS Inc.			6.750%						N/R				11,667,209
				Total Food Products													29,928,846
				Insurance – 10.8%
	54,045			Aegon N.V.			8.000%						Baa1				1,502,451
	466,119			Arch Capital Group Limited			6.750%						BBB				12,361,476
	302,283			Argo Group US Inc.			6.500%						BBB–				7,714,262
	55,200			Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited			7.401%						BBB–				1,452,312
	56,086			Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited			7.250%						BBB–				1,463,845
	393,800			Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited			5.950%						BBB–				10,081,279
	424,634			Axis Capital Holdings Limited			6.875%						BBB				11,316,496
	38,000			Delphi Financial Group, Inc., (5)			7.376%						BBB–				939,314
	223,900			Endurance Specialty Holdings Limited			7.500%						BBB–				5,888,570
	42,470			Hanover Insurance Group			6.350%						BB+				1,078,313
	138,124			Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.			7.875%						BBB–				4,308,088
	484,200			Kemper Corporation			7.375%						Ba1				12,976,559
	298,139			Maiden Holdings Limited			8.250%						BB				7,885,777
	233,932			Maiden Holdings NA Limited			8.000%						BBB–				6,269,378
	291,133			Maiden Holdings NA Limited			7.750%						BBB–				7,822,743
	78,425			National General Holding Company			7.500%						N/R				1,995,916
	199,150			National General Holding Company			7.500%						N/R				5,016,589
	319,672			Reinsurance Group of America Inc.			6.200%						BBB				9,046,718
				Total Insurance													109,120,086
				Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 1.2%
	308,741			Nustar Logistics Limited Partnership			7.625%						Ba2				8,271,171
	93,775			Scorpio Tankers Inc.			7.500%						N/R				2,372,508
	76,005			Scorpio Tankers Inc.			6.750%						N/R				1,790,678
				Total Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels													12,434,357
				Real Estate Investment Trust – 14.0%
	192,200			AG Mortgage Investment Trust			8.000%						N/R				4,730,042
	19,897			Apartment Investment & Management Company			7.000%						BB				513,542
	57,165			Apartment Investment & Management Company			6.875%						BB				1,542,883
	149,500			Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance			8.625%						N/R				3,910,920
	249,100			Apollo Residential Mortgage Inc.			8.000%						N/R				5,965,945
	9,465			Arbor Realty Trust Incorporated			8.250%						N/R				240,979
	138,500			Arbor Realty Trust Incorporated			7.375%						N/R				3,408,485
	133,192			Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc.			9.000%						N/R				3,502,950
	37,399			Ashford Hospitality Trust Inc.			8.450%						N/R				966,016
	139,015			Capstead Mortgage Corporation			7.500%						N/R				3,442,011
	186,579			Cedar Shopping Centers Inc., Series A			7.250%						N/R				4,765,228
	208,314			Chesapeake Lodging Trust			7.750%						N/R				5,530,737
	124,150			Colony Financial Inc.			7.125%						N/R				2,928,699
	23,967			Colony Financial Inc.			8.500%						N/R				628,654

 

	30			Nuveen Investments

---

Shares				Description (1)		Coupon								Ratings (4)				Value
				Real Estate Investment Trust (continued)
	102,520			Colony Financial Inc.			7.500%								N/R			$	2,579,403
	50,000			Coresite Realty Corporation			7.250%								N/R				1,301,000
	79,124			CYS Investments Inc.			7.750%								N/R				1,855,458
	270,925			DDR Corporation			6.500%								Baa3				7,000,702
	180,964			Digital Realty Trust Inc., (3)			7.375%								Baa3				4,909,553
	23,180			Digital Realty Trust Inc.			7.000%								Baa3				600,362
	214,845			Dupont Fabros Technology			7.875%								Ba2				5,463,294
	245,332			First Potomac Realty Trust			7.750%								N/R				6,295,219
	35,393			Hatteras Financial Corporation			7.625%								N/R				822,887
	70,782			Hospitality Properties Trust			7.125%								Baa3				1,854,488
	178,285			Inland Real Estate Corporation			8.125%								N/R				4,630,061
	22,200			Inland Real Estate Corporation			6.950%								N/R				550,782
	91,910			Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc.			7.750%								N/R				2,269,258
	123,064			Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc.			7.750%								N/R				2,942,460
	19,850			Kite Realty Group Trust			8.250%								N/R				510,939
	177,649			MFA Financial Inc.			8.000%								N/R				4,537,155
	11,619			MFA Financial Inc.			7.500%								N/R				290,707
	182,859			Northstar Realty Finance Corporation			8.875%								N/R				4,750,677
	51,926			Northstar Realty Finance Corporation			8.750%								N/R				1,345,922
	242,106			Northstar Realty Finance Corporation			8.250%								N/R				6,088,966
	72,400			Penn Real Estate Investment Trust			7.375%								N/R				1,914,256
	200,000			Penn Real Estate Investment Trust			8.250%								N/R				5,312,000
	59,960			PS Business Parks, Inc.			6.450%								Baa2				1,569,753
	83,773			Rait Financial Trust			7.750%								N/R				1,840,493
	137,718			Rait Financial Trust			7.625%								N/R				3,128,953
	85,253			Rait Financial Trust			7.125%								N/R				2,095,519
	149,039			Regency Centers Corporation			6.625%								Baa2				3,867,562
	160,797			Resource Capital Corporation			8.625%								N/R				3,391,209
	232,416			Senior Housing Properties Trust			5.625%								BBB–				5,508,259
	7,474			Summit Hotel Properties Inc.			7.875%								N/R				203,069
	149,300			Urstadt Biddle Properties			7.125%								N/R				3,868,363
	243,595			VEREIT, Inc.			6.700%								N/R				5,980,257
				Total Real Estate Investment Trust															141,356,077
				Real Estate Management & Development – 0.3%
	110,000			Kennedy-Wilson Inc.			7.750%								BB–				2,847,900
				Specialty Retail – 0.7%
	260,674			TravelCenters of America LLC			8.000%								N/R				6,894,827
				Thrifts & Mortgage Finance – 0.1%
	52,102			Everbank Financial Corporation			6.750%								N/R				1,320,265
				U.S. Agency – 7.4%
	128,500			AgriBank FCB, (5)			6.875%								BBB+				13,492,500
	172,975			Cobank Agricultural Credit Bank, 144A, (5)			6.250%								BBB+				18,075,888
	48,055			Cobank Agricultural Credit Bank, (5)			6.200%								BBB+				4,847,548
	38,725			Cobank Agricultural Credit Bank, (5)			6.125%								BBB+				3,630,469
	260,300			Farm Credit Bank of Texas, 144A, (5)			6.750%								Baa1				27,128,154
	160,700			Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation			6.875%								N/R				4,242,480
	143,400			Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation			6.000%								N/R				3,692,550
				Total U.S. Agency															75,109,589
				Wireless Telecommunication Services – 0.9%
	350,096			United States Cellular Corporation			7.250%								Ba1				9,053,483
				Total $25 Par (or similar) Retail Preferred (cost $624,891,116)															652,645,186
Shares				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (4)				Value
				CONVERTIBLE PREFERRED SECURITIES – 0.7% (0.5% of Total Investments)
				Diversified Telecommunication Services – 0.7%
	67,400			Frontier Communications Corporation			11.125%				6/29/18				N/R			$	6,588,350
				Total Convertible Preferred Securities (cost $6,812,589)															6,588,350

 

Nuveen Investments			31

---

JPC		Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund
		Portfolio of Investments (continued)		July 31, 2015

 

Principal Amount (000)				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (4)				Value
				CORPORATE BONDS – 8.2% (5.9% of Total Investments)
				Banks – 3.0%
$	6,000			Bank of America Corporation			6.250%				3/05/65				BB+			$	6,005,579
	3,900			Citigroup Inc.			5.875%				12/29/49				BB+				3,924,375
	5,020			Citigroup Inc., (3)			5.950%				12/31/49				BB+				4,894,500
	5,040			Credit Agricole, SA, 144A			6.625%				12/23/64				BB+				5,021,100
	2,910			ING Groep N.V.			6.500%				10/16/65				Ba1				2,855,438
	4,460			JPMorgan Chase & Company			5.300%				11/01/65				BBB–				4,443,944
	3,550			Standard Chartered PLC, 144A			6.500%				10/02/65				BBB				3,591,897
	30,880			Total Banks															30,736,833
				Beverages – 0.5%
	1,250			Cott Beverages Inc., 144A			6.750%				1/01/20				B–				1,301,563
	3,450			Cott Beverages Inc.			5.375%				7/01/22				B–				3,372,375
	4,700			Total Beverages															4,673,938
				Capital Markets – 0.7%
	2,200			BGC Partners Inc.			5.375%				12/09/19				BBB–				2,305,600
	4,500			Goldman Sachs Group Inc.			5.375%				11/10/65				Ba1				4,472,999
	6,700			Total Capital Markets															6,778,599
				Commercial Services & Supplies – 0.4%
	3,320			GFL Environmental Corporation, 144A			7.875%				4/01/20				B				3,394,700
	1,155			R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company			6.500%				11/15/23				BB–				1,192,538
	4,475			Total Commercial Services & Supplies															4,587,238
				Diversified Consumer Services – 0.2%
	1,885			Gibson Brands Inc., 144A			8.875%				8/01/18				B–				1,852,013
				Food Products – 0.1%
	1,010			Land O’ Lakes Capital Trust I, 144A			7.450%				3/15/28				BB				1,080,700
				Health Care Providers & Services – 0.3%
	3,040			Kindred Healthcare Inc., (3)			6.375%				4/15/22				B2				3,112,200
				Independent Power & Renewable Electricity Producers – 0.3%
	2,675			Abengoa Yield PLC, 144A			7.000%				11/15/19				BB+				2,675,000
				Insurance – 0.2%
	1,835			Security Benefit Life Insurance Company, 144A			7.450%				10/01/33				BBB				2,255,164
				Marine – 0.5%
	6,050			Teekay Offshore Partners LP			6.000%				7/30/19				N/R				5,202,999
				Media – 0.2%
	1,925			Altice SA, 144A			7.625%				2/15/25				B				1,886,500
				Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 0.3%
	3,625			Seadrill Limited, 144A			6.125%				9/15/17				N/R				3,117,500
				Real Estate Investment Trust – 0.5%
	3,525			Communications Sales & Leasing Inc., 144A			8.250%				10/15/23				BB				3,366,375
	1,640			Select Income REIT			4.500%				2/01/25				Baa2				1,599,384
	5,165			Total Real Estate Investment Trust															4,965,759
				Real Estate Management & Development – 0.5%
	4,100			Forestar USA Real Estate Group Inc., 144A, (3)			8.500%				6/01/22				B+				4,295,160
	850			Kennedy-Wilson Holdings Incorporated			5.875%				4/01/24				BB–				842,563
	4,950			Total Real Estate Management & Development															5,137,723

 

	32			Nuveen Investments

---

Principal Amount (000)				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (4)				Value
				Wireless Telecommunication Services – 0.5%
$	1,675			Frontier Communications Corporation			7.625%				4/15/24				BB			$	1,524,250
	4,525			Frontier Communications Corporation			6.875%				1/15/25				BB				3,851,906
	6,200			Total Wireless Telecommunication Services															5,376,156
$	85,115			Total Corporate Bonds (cost $84,765,809)															83,438,322
Principal Amount (000)/ Shares				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (4)				Value
				$1,000 PAR (OR SIMILAR) INSTITUTIONAL PREFERRED – 58.6% (41.7% of Total Investments)
				Banks – 25.0%
	1,025			Bank of America Corporation			8.125%				N/A (6)				BB+			$	1,095,469
	6,490			Bank of America Corporation			8.000%				N/A (6)				BB+				6,866,420
	17,045			Bank of America Corporation			6.500%				N/A (6)				BB+				17,598,963
	4,200			Bank of America Corporation			6.100%				N/A (6)				BB+				4,181,100
	3,575			Barclays Bank PLC, 144A			10.180%				6/12/21				A–				4,722,389
	8,930			Barclays PLC			8.250%				N/A (6)				BB+				9,559,270
	1,000			Citigroup Inc.			8.400%				N/A (6)				BB+				1,136,250
	9,550			Citigroup Inc., (3)			5.800%				N/A (6)				BB+				9,604,913
	7,214			Citizens Financial Group Inc., 144A			5.500%				N/A (6)				BB+				7,079,459
	3,960			Commerzbank AG, 144A			8.125%				9/19/23				BB+				4,619,578
	3,680			Credit Agricole SA, 144A			7.875%				N/A (6)				BB+				3,818,077
	6,635			General Electric Capital Corporation			6.250%				N/A (6)				A+				7,204,283
	27,455			General Electric Capital Corporation, (2)			7.125%				N/A (6)				A+				31,744,843
	1,000			HSBC Bank PLC			0.688%				N/A (6)				A3				627,500
	500			HSBC Bank PLC			0.600%				N/A (6)				A3				316,000
	4,204			HSBC Capital Funding LP, 144A			10.176%				N/A (6)				Baa1				6,316,510
	3,745			HSBC Holdings PLC			6.375%				N/A (6)				BBB				3,768,406
	2,250			HSBC Holdings PLC			6.375%				N/A (6)				BBB				2,260,125
	17,810			JPMorgan Chase & Company			6.750%				N/A (6)				BBB–				18,867,468
	125			JPMorgan Chase & Company			6.100%				N/A (6)				BBB–				125,469
	15,532			JPMorgan Chase & Company			7.900%				N/A (6)				BBB–				16,386,260
	16,700			Lloyd’s Banking Group PLC			7.500%				N/A (6)				BB+				17,409,749
	1,960			M&T Bank Corporation			6.450%				N/A (6)				Baa2				2,097,200
	4,000			Nordea Bank AB, 144A			6.125%				N/A (6)				BBB				3,980,000
	8,445			PNC Financial Services Inc.			6.750%				N/A (6)				Baa2				9,373,950
	4,883			Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC			7.648%				N/A (6)				BB				6,152,580
	13,906			Societe Generale, 144A			7.875%				N/A (6)				BB+				14,121,542
	4,995			SunTrust Bank Inc.			5.625%				N/A (6)				Baa3				5,019,975
	15,481			Wells Fargo & Company, (3)			7.980%				N/A (6)				BBB				16,777,534
	13,250			Wells Fargo & Company			5.875%				N/A (6)				BBB				13,564,688
	6,765			Zions Bancorporation			7.200%				N/A (6)				BB–				7,187,813
				Total Banks															253,583,783
				Capital Markets – 4.5%
	3,270			Bank of New York Mellon Corporation			4.950%				N/A (6)				Baa1				3,253,650
	20,205			Credit Suisse Group AG, 144A			7.500%				N/A (6)				BB+				21,518,324
	4,765			Deutsche Bank AG			7.500%				N/A (6)				BB+				4,788,825
	3,520			Goldman Sachs Group Inc.			5.700%				N/A (6)				Ba1				3,554,074
	4,610			Morgan Stanley			5.550%				N/A (6)				Ba1				4,586,950
	1,975			State Street Corporation			5.250%				N/A (6)				Baa1				1,995,145
	5,375			UBS Group AG, Reg S			7.125%				N/A (6)				BB+				5,622,250
				Total Capital Markets															45,319,218
				Consumer Finance – 2.5%
	3,841			Ally Financial Inc., 144A			7.000%				N/A (6)				B				3,900,176
	5,580			American Express Company			5.200%				N/A (6)				Baa2				5,580,000
	1,900			American Express Company			4.900%				N/A (6)				Baa2				1,859,150
	14,180			Capital One Financial Corporation			5.550%				N/A (6)				Baa3				14,197,015
				Total Consumer Finance															25,536,341

 

Nuveen Investments			33

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JPC		Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund
		Portfolio of Investments (continued)		July 31, 2015

 

Principal Amount (000)/ Shares				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (4)				Value
				Diversified Financial Services – 5.1%
	16,400			Agstar Financial Services Inc., 144A			6.750%				N/A (6)				BB			$	17,127,750
	2,040			Banco BTG Pactual SA/Luxembourg, 144A			8.750%				N/A (6)				Ba3				2,040,000
	5,670			BNP Paribas, 144A			7.195%				N/A (6)				BBB				6,683,513
	4,250			Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, 144A			4.875%				N/A (6)				A+				4,269,125
	15,523			Rabobank Nederland, 144A			11.000%				N/A (6)				Baa2				19,486,021
	1,530			Voya Financial Inc.			5.650%				5/15/53				Baa3				1,563,048
				Total Diversified Financial Services															51,169,457
				Food Products – 2.1%
	20,310			Land O’ Lakes Incorporated, 144A			8.000%				N/A (6)				BB				20,893,913
				Insurance – 17.6%
	2,650			Aquarius & Investments PLC fbo SwissRe, Reg S			8.250%				N/A (6)				N/R				2,889,846
	7,365			Aviva PLC, Reg S			8.250%				N/A (6)				BBB				8,102,200
	905			AXA SA			8.600%				12/15/30				A3				1,214,963
	15,924			Catlin Insurance Company Limited, 144A			7.249%				N/A (6)				BBB+				14,809,320
	2,460			Cloverie PLC Zurich Insurance, Reg S			8.250%				N/A (6)				A				2,780,041
	2,300			CNP Assurances, Reg S			7.500%				N/A (6)				BBB+				2,529,200
	29,045			Financial Security Assurance Holdings, 144A			6.400%				12/15/66				BBB+				21,638,524
	1,755			Friends Life Holdings PLC, Reg S			7.875%				N/A (6)				BBB+				1,948,587
	2,760			Glen Meadows Pass-Through Trust, 144A			6.505%				2/12/67				BBB–				2,559,900
	1,183			La Mondiale SAM, Reg S			7.625%				N/A (6)				BBB–				1,296,864
	6,590			Liberty Mutual Group, 144A, (3)			7.800%				3/15/37				Baa3				7,809,150
	1,750			Lincoln National Corporation			6.050%				4/20/67				BBB				1,575,000
	9,335			MetLife Capital Trust IV, 144A			7.875%				12/15/37				BBB				11,668,750
	5,285			MetLife Capital Trust X, 144A, (3)			9.250%				4/08/38				BBB				7,397,943
	3,425			MetLife Inc.			5.250%				N/A (6)				Baa2				3,416,438
	13,770			National Financial Services Inc.			6.750%				5/15/37				Baa2				14,444,730
	1,150			Nationwide Financial Services Capital Trust			7.899%				3/01/37				Baa2				1,276,842
	6,855			Provident Financing Trust I, (3)			7.405%				3/15/38				Baa3				7,951,800
	3,315			Prudential Financial Inc.			5.875%				9/15/42				BBB+				3,505,613
	13,535			QBE Capital Funding Trust II, 144A			7.250%				5/24/41				BBB				14,922,338
	2,340			QBE Insurance Group Limited, Reg S			6.750%				12/02/44				BBB				2,457,047
	14,680			Sirius International Grp, 144A			7.506%				N/A (6)				BB+				15,010,300
	5,644			Swiss Re Capital I, 144A			6.854%				N/A (6)				A				5,790,744
	18,168			Symetra Financial Corporation, 144A, (3)			8.300%				10/15/37				BBB–				18,531,360
	2,600			ZFS Finance USA Trust II, 144A			6.450%				12/15/65				A				2,658,630
				Total Insurance															178,186,130
				Machinery – 0.1%
	1,020			Stanley Black & Decker Inc.			5.750%				12/15/53				BBB+				1,092,675
				Real Estate Investment Trust – 1.5%
	11,705			Sovereign Real Estate Investment Trust, 144A			12.000%				N/A (6)				Ba1				15,450,600
				U.S. Agency – 0.2%
	1,700			Farm Credit Bank of Texas, 144A			10.000%				N/A (6)				Baa1				2,125,000
				Total $1,000 Par (or similar) Institutional Preferred (cost $566,968,259)															593,357,117
				Total Long-Term Investments (cost $1,355,909,281)															1,408,464,094

 

	34			Nuveen Investments

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Principal Amount (000)				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity						Value
				SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS – 1.3% (0.9% of Total Investments)
				REPURCHASE AGREEMENTS – 1.3% (0.9% of Total Investments)
$	12,993			Repurchase Agreement with Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, dated 7/31/15, repurchase price $12,992,933, collateralized by $11,465,000 U.S. Treasury Bonds, 3.625%, due 8/15/43, value $13,256,406			0.000%				8/03/15					$	12,992,933
				Total Short-Term Investments (cost $12,992,933)													12,992,933
				Total Investments (cost $1,368,902,214) – 140.4%													1,421,457,027
				Borrowings – (39.9)% (7), (8)													(404,100,000	)
				Other Assets Less Liabilities – (0.5)% (9)													(4,591,113	)
				Net Assets Applicable to Common Shares – 100%												$	1,012,765,914

Investments in Derivatives as of July 31, 2015

Call Options Written outstanding:

 

Number of Contracts				Description		Type				Notional Amount (10)				Expiration Date				Strike Price				Value
	(408)			Caterpillar Inc.			Exchange-Traded			$	(3,366,000	)			10/16/15			$	82.5			$	(57,120	)
	(2,892)			Ford Motor Company			Exchange-Traded				(4,627,200	)			9/18/15				16.0				(26,028	)
	(153)			Gilead Sciences, Inc.			Exchange-Traded				(1,836,000	)			8/21/15				120.0				(24,480	)
	(435)			Phillips 66			Exchange-Traded				(3,588,750	)			9/18/15				82.5				(60,900	)
	(331)			Seagate Technology			Exchange-Traded				(1,820,500	)			9/18/15				55.0				(15,723	)
	(4,219)			Total Call Options Written (premiums received $226,569)						$	(15,238,450	)										$	(184,251	)

Interest Rate Swaps outstanding:

 

Counterparty		Notional Amount				Fund Pay/Receive Floating Rate				Floating Rate Index		Fixed Rate (Annualized)				Fixed Rate Payment Frequency				Effective Date (11)				Termination Date				Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)
JPMorgan		$	114,296,000				Receive			1-Month USD-LIBOR-ICE			1.462	%			Monthly				12/01/15				12/01/20			$	(1,242,887	)
JPMorgan			114,296,000				Receive			1-Month USD-LIBOR-ICE			1.842				Monthly				12/01/15				12/01/22				(1,691,991	)
		$	228,592,000																									$	(2,934,878	)

 

Nuveen Investments			35

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JPC		Nuveen Preferred Income Opportunities Fund
		Portfolio of Investments (continued)		July 31, 2015

 

For Fund portfolio compliance purposes, the Fund’s industry classifications refer to any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or ratings group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. This definition may not apply for purposes of this report, which may combine industry sub-classifications into sectors for reporting ease.

 

(1)	All percentages shown in the Portfolio of Investments are based on net assets applicable to common shares unless otherwise noted.

 

(2)	Investment, or portion of investment, has been pledged to collateralize the net payment obligations for investments in derivatives.

 

(3)	Investment, or a portion of investment, is hypothecated as described in the Notes to Financial Statements, Note 8 – Borrowing Arrangements, Rehypothecation. The total value of investments hypothecated as of the end of the reporting period was $70,120,488.

 

(4)

Ratings (not covered by the report of independent registered public accounting firm): Using the highest of Standard & Poor’s Group (“Standard & Poor’s”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”) rating. Ratings below BBB by Standard & Poor’s, Baa by Moody’s or BBB by Fitch are considered to be below investment grade. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by any of these national rating agencies.

 

(5)	For fair value measurement disclosure purposes, investment classified as Level 2. See Notes to Financial Statements, Note 2 – Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements for more information.

 

(6)	Perpetual security. Maturity date is not applicable.

 

(7)

The Fund may pledge up to 100% of its eligible investments (excluding any investments separately pledged as collateral for specific investments in derivatives, when applicable) as collateral for borrowings. As of the end of the reporting period, investments with a value of $874,909,796 have been pledged as collateral for borrowings.

 

(8)	Borrowings as a percentage of Total Investments is 28.4%.

 

(9)

Other assets less liabilities includes the unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of certain over-the-counter derivatives as presented on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of exchange-cleared and exchange-traded derivatives is recognized as part of the cash collateral at brokers and/or the receivable or payable for variation margin as presented on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, when applicable. Other assets less liabilities also includes the value of options as presented on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities.

 

(10)	For disclosure purposes, Notional Amount is calculated by multiplying the Number of Contracts by the Strike Price by 100.

 

(11)	Effective date represents the date on which both the Fund and counterparty commence interest payment accruals on each contract.

 

144A	Investment is exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These investments may only be resold in transactions exempt from registration, which are normally those transactions with qualified institutional buyers.

 

Reg S

Regulation S allows U.S. companies to sell securities to persons or entities located outside of the United States without registering those securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, Regulation S provides a safe harbor from the registration requirements of the Securities Act for the offers and sales of securities by both foreign and domestic issuers that are made outside the United States.

 

ADR	American Depositary Receipt

 

REIT	Real Estate Investment Trust

 

USD-LIBOR-ICE

United States Dollar – London Inter-Bank Offered Rate – Intercontinental Exchange

 

(WI/DD)

Investment, or portion of investment, purchased on a when-issued or delayed delivery basis.

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

	36			Nuveen Investments

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JPI

 

Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund
Portfolio of Investments		July 31, 2015

 

Shares				Description (1)		Coupon						Ratings (2)				Value
				LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS – 138.8% (99.4% of Total Investments)
				$25 PAR (OR SIMILAR) RETAIL PREFERRED – 44.9% (32.1% of Total Investments)
				Banks – 10.9%
	490,166			Citigroup Inc.			7.125%						BB+			$	13,700,140
	281,769			Citigroup Inc.			6.875%						BB+				7,726,106
	80,500			City National Corporation			6.750%						Baa2				2,330,475
	15,100			Countrywide Capital Trust III			7.000%						BBB–				385,956
	121,300			Fifth Third Bancorp.			6.625%						Baa3				3,404,891
	38,600			PNC Financial Services			6.125%						Baa2				1,063,430
	124,753			Private Bancorp Incorporated			7.125%						N/R				3,297,222
	87,100			Regions Financial Corporation			6.375%						BB				2,234,986
	356,800			Regions Financial Corporation			6.375%						BB				9,415,952
	141,800			Texas Capital Bancshares Inc.			6.500%						Ba2				3,557,762
	38,800			U.S. Bancorp.			6.500%						A3				1,112,396
	182,100			Wells Fargo & Company			6.625%						BBB				5,062,380
	114,600			Wells Fargo REIT			6.375%						BBB+				3,004,812
	210,100			Zions Bancorporation			6.300%						BB–				5,529,832
				Total Banks													61,826,340
				Capital Markets – 5.2%
	23,700			Goldman Sachs Group Inc.			6.375%						Ba1				629,946
	197,100			Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.			5.500%						Ba1				4,895,964
	645,200			Morgan Stanley, (3)			7.125%						Ba1				18,052,696
	215,800			Morgan Stanley			6.875%						Ba1				5,863,286
				Total Capital Markets													29,441,892
				Consumer Finance – 0.9%
	51,300			Capital One Financial Corporation			6.700%						Baa3				1,384,587
	149,800			Discover Financial Services			6.500%						BB–				3,947,230
				Total Consumer Finance													5,331,817
				Diversified Financial Services – 0.4%
	76,800			KKR Financial Holdings LLC			7.375%						BBB				2,029,824
				Diversified Telecommunication Services – 0.3%
	62,000			Verizon Communications Inc.			5.900%						A–				1,615,720
				Electric Utilities – 0.4%
	81,000			Entergy Arkansas Inc., (4)			6.450%						BB+				2,045,250
				Food Products – 2.8%
	267,600			CHS Inc.			7.875%						N/R				7,605,192
	161,100			CHS Inc.			7.100%						N/R				4,385,142
	141,800			CHS Inc.			6.750%						N/R				3,719,414
				Total Food Products													15,709,748
				Insurance – 10.5%
	15,000			Aegon N.V.			8.000%						Baa1				417,000
	168,500			Arch Capital Group Limited			6.750%						BBB				4,468,620
	59,200			Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited			7.250%						BBB–				1,545,120
	432,500			Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited			5.950%						BBB–				11,072,000
	177,623			Axis Capital Holdings Limited			6.875%						BBB–				4,733,653
	40,800			Delphi Financial Group, Inc., (4)			7.376%						BBB–				1,008,527
	174,000			Endurance Specialty Holdings Limited			7.500%						BBB–				4,576,200
	147,600			Hartford Financial Services Group Inc.			7.875%						BBB–				4,603,644
	306,800			Kemper Corporation			7.375%						Ba1				8,222,240
	323,546			Maiden Holdings Limited			8.250%						BB				8,557,792

 

Nuveen Investments			37

---

JPI		Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund
		Portfolio of Investments (continued)		July 31, 2015

 

Shares				Description (1)		Coupon								Ratings (2)				Value
				Insurance (continued)
	163,333			Maiden Holdings Limited			7.750%								BBB–			$	4,388,758
	205,000			Reinsurance Group of America Inc.			6.200%								BBB				5,801,500
				Total Insurance															59,395,054
				Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 1.0%
	219,800			Nustar Logistics Limited Partnership			7.625%								Ba2				5,888,442
				U.S. Agency – 12.5%
	143,400			AgriBank FCB, (4)			6.875%								BBB+				15,057,000
	163,800			Cobank Agricultural Credit Bank, 144A, (4)			6.250%								BBB+				17,117,099
	37,800			Cobank Agricultural Credit Bank, (4)			6.200%								BBB+				3,813,075
	255,100			Farm Credit Bank of Texas, 144A, (4)			6.750%								Baa1				26,586,216
	172,400			Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation			6.875%								N/R				4,551,360
	146,600			Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation			6.000%								N/R				3,774,950
				Total U.S. Agency															70,899,700
				Total $25 Par (or similar) Retail Preferred (cost $242,540,751)															254,183,787
Principal Amount (000)				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (2)				Value
				CORPORATE BONDS – 7.1% (5.1% of Total Investments)
				Banks – 4.6%
$	8,975			Bank of America Corporation			6.250%				3/05/65				BB+			$	8,983,346
	5,420			Credit Agricole, SA, 144A			6.625%				12/23/64				BB+				5,399,675
	3,105			ING Groep N.V.			6.500%				10/16/65				Ba1				3,046,781
	4,760			JPMorgan Chase & Company			5.300%				11/01/65				BBB–				4,742,864
	3,790			Standard Chartered PLC, 144A			6.500%				10/02/65				BBB				3,834,730
	26,050			Total Banks															26,007,396
				Capital Markets – 0.7%
	3,740			Goldman Sachs Group Inc.			5.375%				11/10/65				Ba1				3,717,560
				Food Products – 0.2%
	1,090			Land O’ Lakes Capital Trust I, 144A			7.450%				3/15/28				BB				1,166,300
				Insurance – 1.6%
	4,430			Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, 144A			9.375%				8/15/39				A–				6,766,276
	1,965			Security Benefit Life Insurance Company, 144A			7.450%				10/01/33				BBB				2,414,930
	6,395			Total Insurance															9,181,206
$	37,275			Total Corporate Bonds (cost $39,013,942)															40,072,462
Principal Amount (000)/ Shares				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (2)				Value
				$1,000 PAR (OR SIMILAR) INSTITUTIONAL PREFERRED – 86.8% (62.2% of Total Investments)
				Banks – 35.6%
	1,105			Bank of America Corporation			8.125%				N/A (5)				BB+			$	1,180,969
	6,980			Bank of America Corporation			8.000%				N/A (5)				BB+				7,384,840
	8,915			Bank of America Corporation, (6)			6.500%				N/A (5)				BB+				9,204,738
	4,000			Barclays Bank PLC, 144A			10.180%				6/12/21				A–				5,283,792
	8,400			Barclays PLC			8.250%				N/A (5)				BB+				8,991,923
	6,055			Citigroup Inc.			5.800%				N/A (5)				BB+				6,089,816
	4,050			Citigroup Inc.			5.875%				N/A (5)				BB+				4,075,313
	4,540			Citizens Financial Group Inc., 144A			5.500%				N/A (5)				BB+				4,455,329
	4,265			Commerzbank AG, 144A			8.125%				9/19/23				BB+				4,975,378
	3,745			Credit Agricole SA, 144A			7.875%				N/A (5)				BB+				3,885,516
	2,340			General Electric Capital Corporation			6.250%				N/A (5)				A+				2,540,772
	18,300			General Electric Capital Corporation			7.125%				N/A (5)				A+				21,159,374

 

	38			Nuveen Investments

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Principal Amount (000)/ Shares				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (2)				Value
				Banks (continued)
	4,351			HSBC Capital Funding LP, 144A			10.176%				N/A (5)				Baa1			$	6,537,378
	4,005			HSBC Holdings PLC			6.375%				N/A (5)				BBB				4,030,031
	2,400			HSBC Holdings PLC			6.375%				N/A (5)				BBB				2,410,800
	11,405			JPMorgan Chase & Company			6.750%				N/A (5)				BBB–				12,082,172
	10,505			JPMorgan Chase & Company			7.900%				N/A (5)				BBB–				11,082,775
	17,370			Lloyd’s Banking Group PLC			7.500%				N/A (5)				BB+				18,108,224
	2,110			M&T Bank Corporation			6.450%				N/A (5)				Baa2				2,257,700
	4,390			Nordea Bank AB, 144A			6.125%				N/A (5)				BBB				4,368,050
	4,855			PNC Financial Services Inc.			6.750%				N/A (5)				Baa2				5,389,050
	5,473			Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC			7.648%				N/A (5)				BB				6,895,980
	14,900			Societe Generale, 144A			7.875%				N/A (5)				BB+				15,130,950
	2,695			SunTrust Bank Inc.			5.625%				N/A (5)				Baa3				2,708,475
	16,565			Wells Fargo & Company			7.980%				N/A (5)				BBB				17,952,319
	6,820			Wells Fargo & Company			5.875%				N/A (5)				BBB				6,981,975
	6,017			Zions Bancorporation			7.200%				N/A (5)				BB–				6,393,063
				Total Banks															201,556,702
				Capital Markets – 8.1%
	3,500			Bank of New York Mellon Corporation			4.950%				N/A (5)				Baa1				3,482,500
	21,602			Credit Suisse Group AG, 144A			7.500%				N/A (5)				BB+				23,006,129
	5,110			Deutsche Bank AG			7.500%				N/A (5)				BB+				5,135,550
	3,675			Goldman Sachs Group Inc.			5.700%				N/A (5)				Ba1				3,710,574
	2,385			Morgan Stanley			5.550%				N/A (5)				Ba1				2,373,075
	2,105			State Street Corporation			5.250%				N/A (5)				Baa1				2,126,471
	5,735			UBS Group AG, Reg S			7.125%				N/A (5)				BB+				5,998,810
				Total Capital Markets															45,833,109
				Consumer Finance – 2.4%
	250			Ally Financial Inc., 144A			7.000%				N/A (5)				B				253,852
	3,960			American Express Company			5.200%				N/A (5)				Baa2				3,960,000
	2,000			American Express Company			4.900%				N/A (5)				Baa2				1,957,000
	7,600			Capital One Financial Corporation			5.550%				N/A (5)				Baa3				7,609,120
				Total Consumer Finance															13,779,972
				Diversified Financial Services – 9.3%
	15,700			Agstar Financial Services Inc., 144A			6.750%				N/A (5)				BB				16,396,688
	2,185			Banco BTG Pactual SA/Luxembourg, 144A			8.750%				N/A (5)				Ba3				2,185,000
	6,040			BNP Paribas, 144A			7.195%				N/A (5)				BBB				7,119,650
	4,500			Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, 144A			4.875%				N/A (5)				A+				4,520,250
	16,548			Rabobank Nederland, 144A			11.000%				N/A (5)				Baa2				20,772,076
	1,697			Voya Financial Inc.			5.650%				5/15/53				Baa3				1,733,655
				Total Diversified Financial Services															52,727,319
				Food Products – 1.3%
	7,230			Land O’ Lakes Incorporated, 144A			8.000%				N/A (5)				BB				7,437,863
				Insurance – 26.1%
	2,850			Aquarius & Investments PLC fbo SwissRe, Reg S			8.250%				N/A (5)				N/R				3,107,948
	7,215			Aviva PLC, Reg S			8.250%				N/A (5)				BBB				7,937,185
	1,265			AXA SA			8.600%				12/15/30				A3				1,698,263
	16,735			Catlin Insurance Company Limited, 144A			7.249%				N/A (5)				BBB+				15,563,550
	2,640			Cloverie PLC Zurich Insurance, Reg S			8.250%				N/A (5)				A				2,983,459
	2,500			CNP Assurances, Reg S			7.500%				N/A (5)				BBB+				2,749,130
	30,995			Financial Security Assurance Holdings, 144A			6.400%				12/15/66				BBB+				23,091,274
	2,424			Friends Life Holdings PLC, Reg S			7.875%				N/A (5)				BBB+				2,691,382
	2,950			Glen Meadows Pass-Through Trust, 144A			6.505%				2/12/67				BBB–				2,736,125
	1,309			La Mondiale SAM, Reg S			7.625%				N/A (5)				BBB–				1,434,991
	5,430			MetLife Capital Trust X, 144A			9.250%				4/08/38				BBB				7,600,914
	3,655			MetLife Inc.			5.250%				N/A (5)				Baa2				3,645,863
	7,703			Provident Financing Trust I			7.405%				3/15/38				Baa3				8,935,480
	3,325			Prudential Financial Inc.			5.875%				9/15/42				BBB+				3,516,188

 

Nuveen Investments			39

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JPI		Nuveen Preferred and Income Term Fund
		Portfolio of Investments (continued)		July 31, 2015

 

Principal Amount (000)/ Shares				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity				Ratings (2)				Value
				Insurance (continued)
	14,800			QBE Capital Funding Trust II, 144A			7.250%				5/24/41				BBB			$	16,317,000
	2,135			QBE Insurance Group Limited, Reg S			6.750%				12/02/44				BBB				2,241,793
	15,755			Sirius International Grp, 144A			7.506%				N/A (5)				BB+				16,109,488
	25,226			Symetra Financial Corporation, 144A			8.300%				10/15/37				BBB–				25,730,519
				Total Insurance															148,090,552
				Machinery – 0.2%
	1,095			Stanley Black & Decker Inc.			5.750%				12/15/53				BBB+				1,173,019
				Real Estate Investment Trust – 3.6%
	15,298			Sovereign Real Estate Investment Trust, 144A			12.000%				N/A (5)				Ba1				20,193,360
				U.S. Agency – 0.2%
	752			Farm Credit Bank of Texas, 144A			10.000%				N/A (5)				Baa1				940,000
				Total $1,000 Par (or similar) Institutional Preferred (cost $481,179,718)															491,731,896
				Total Long-Term Investments (cost $762,734,411)															785,988,145
Principal Amount (000)				Description (1)		Coupon				Maturity								Value
				SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS – 0.8% (0.6% of Total Investments)
				REPURCHASE AGREEMENTS – 0.8% (0.6% of Total Investments)
$	4,678			Repurchase Agreement with Fixed Income Clearing Corporation, dated 7/31/15, repurchase price $4,677,630, collateralized by $4,560,000 U.S. Treasury Bonds, 3.125%, due 2/15/43, value $4,772,496			0.000%				8/03/15							$	4,677,630
				Total Short-Term Investments (cost $4,677,630)															4,677,630
				Total Investments (cost $767,412,041) – 139.6%															790,665,775
				Borrowings – (39.7)% (7), (8)															(225,000,000	)
				Other Assets Less Liabilities – 0.1% (9)															471,349
				Net Assets Applicable to Common Shares – 100%														$	566,137,124

Investments in Derivatives as of July 31, 2015

Interest Rate Swaps outstanding:

 

Counterparty		Notional Amount				Fund Pay/Receive Floating Rate				Floating Rate Index				Fixed Rate (Annualized)				Fixed Rate Payment Frequency				Effective Date (10)				Termination Date				Unrealized Appreciation (Depreciation)
JPMorgan		$	84,375,000				Receive				1-Month USD-LIBOR-ICE				1.735	%			Monthly				12/01/15				12/01/20			$	(1,750,202	)
JPMorgan			84,375,000				Receive				1-Month USD-LIBOR-ICE				2.188				Monthly				12/01/15				12/01/22				(2,855,611	)
		$	168,750,000																											$	(4,605,813	)

 

	40			Nuveen Investments

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For Fund portfolio compliance purposes, the Fund’s industry classifications refer to any one or more of the industry sub-classifications used by one or more widely recognized market indexes or ratings group indexes, and/or as defined by Fund management. This definition may not apply for purposes of this report, which may combine industry sub-classifications into sectors for reporting ease.

 

(1)	All percentages shown in the Portfolio of Investments are based on net assets applicable to common shares unless otherwise noted.

 

(2)

Ratings (not covered by the report of independent registered public accounting firm): Using the highest of Standard & Poor’s Group (“Standard & Poor’s”), Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”) or Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”) rating. Ratings below BBB by Standard & Poor’s, Baa by Moody’s or BBB by Fitch are considered to be below investment grade. Holdings designated N/R are not rated by any of these national rating agencies.

 

(3)	Investment, or portion of investment, has been pledged to collateralize the net payment obligations for investments in derivatives.

 

(4)	For fair value measurement disclosure purposes, investment classified as Level 2. See Notes to Financial Statements, Note 2 – Investment Valuation and Fair Value Measurements for more information.

 

(5)	Perpetual security. Maturity date is not applicable.

 

(6)	Investment, or a portion of investment, is hypothecated as described in the Notes to Financial Statements, Note 8 – Borrowing Arrangements, Rehypothecation. The value of investments hypothecated as of the end of the reporting period was $988,103.

 

(7)

The Fund may pledge up to 100% of its eligible investments (excluding any investments separately pledged as collateral for specific investments in derivatives, when applicable) as collateral for borrowings. As of the end of the reporting period, investments with a value of $498,417,111 have been pledged as collateral for borrowings.

 

(8)	Borrowings as a percentage of Total Investments is 28.5%.

 

(9)

Other assets less liabilities includes the unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of certain over-the-counter derivatives as presented on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities. The unrealized appreciation (depreciation) of exchange-cleared and exchange-traded derivatives is recognized as part of the cash collateral at brokers and/or the receivable or payable for variation margin as presented on the Statement of Assets and Liabilities, when applicable.

 

(10)	Effective date represents the date on which both the Fund and counterparty commence interest payment accruals on each contract.

 

144A	Investment is exempt from registration under Rule 144A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. These investments may only be resold in transactions exempt from registration, which are normally those transactions with qualified institutional buyers.

 

Reg S

Regulation S allows U.S. companies to sell securities to persons or entities located outside of the United States without registering those securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Specifically, Regulation S provides a safe harbor from the registration requirements of the Securities Act for the offers and sales of securities by both foreign and domestic issuers that are made outside the United States.

 

REIT	Real Estate Investment Trust

 

USD-LIBOR-ICE

United States Dollar – London Inter-Bank Offered Rate – Intercontinental Exchange

 

See accompanying notes to financial statements.

 

Nuveen Investments			41

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JPW

 

Nuveen Flexible Investment Income Fund
Portfolio of Investments		July 31, 2015

 

Shares				Description (1)								Value
				LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS – 141.7% (97.4% of Total Investments)
				COMMON STOCKS – 32.7% (22.5% of Total Investments)
				Air Freight & Logistics – 2.2%
	15,100			United Parcel Service, Inc., Class B								$	1,545,636
				Automobiles – 1.8%
	86,000			Ford Motor Company, (2)									1,275,380
				Biotechnology – 3.8%
	22,100			Gilead Sciences, Inc., (2)									2,604,706
				Capital Markets – 3.6%
	58,775			Ares Capital Corporation									945,690
	80,100			Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.									895,518
	34,995			TPG Specialty Lending, Inc.									622,911
				Total Capital Markets									2,464,119
				Diversified Consumer Services – 1.5%
	34,100			Stonemor Partners LP									1,031,866
				Insurance – 1.5%
	29,000			Unum Group									1,039,360
				Machinery – 1.4%
	12,000			Caterpillar Inc., (2)									943,560
				Media – 0.7%
	32,700			National CineMedia, Inc.									506,850
				Oil, Gas & Consumable Fuels – 1.4%
	12,600			Phillips 66, (2)									1,001,700
				Pharmaceuticals – 4.7%
	36,800			AstraZeneca PLC, Sponsored ADR									1,243,472
	45,400			GlaxoSmithKline PLC									1,972,176
				Total Pharmaceuticals									3,215,648
				Real Estate Investment Trust – 4.0%
	78,600			National Storage Affiliates Trust									929,838
	58,800			New Residential Investment									922,572
	55,425			Northstar Realty Finance Corporation									886,800
				Total Real Estate Investment Trust									2,739,210
				Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals – 4.3%
	47,600			NetApp, Inc.									1,482,740
	28,800			Seagate Technology, (2)									1,457,280
				Total Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals									2,940,020