Company: NPFD
Filing Date: 2025-10-03
Form Type: N-CSR
Source: 0001193125-25-230111
Chunk: 4

Company: Nuveen Variable Rate Preferred & Income Fund
Filing Date: 2025-10-03
Form: N-CSR
Chunk 4
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istra Vision, Chord Energy Corp and Transocean Ltd. |

| • |     | Exposure to the financials and energy sectors. |

| • |     | A position in the loans of City Brewing Company. |

| 4 |

Nuveen Credit Strategies Income Fund (JQC) What factors affected markets during the reporting period?

| • |     | Uncertainty around tariffs and other potential policy shifts under the new administration, including federal spending 
 reductions, created bouts of volatility.                                                                              |

| • |     | Interest rate moves and central bank signals affected high-yield issuers, as elevated borrowing costs weighed on 
 refinancing activity and new issuance.                                                                           |

| • |     | High-yield bonds benefited from positive convexity, which provided greater price gains when yields fell and helped 
 cushion declines when yields rose.                                                                                 |

| • |     | Robust collateralized loan obligation (CLO) demand kept loan market technicals robust, even during period of 
 volatility.                                                                                                  |

| • |     | The U.S. economy showed resilience, rebounding quickly after periods of volatility, which supported risk assets. |

What key strategies were used to manage the Fund during the reporting period?

| • |     | The Fund avoided issuers likely to be negatively impacted by policy changes under the new administration, including 
 potential tariffs, spending reductions and other trade-related measures.                                            |

| • |     | The Fund avoided most issuers undergoing liability management exercises (LMEs), while selectively targeting post-LME structures that offered attractive risk-adjusted opportunities. |

| • |     | The Fund continued to focus on larger, more liquid issuers across high-yield bonds and loans, enabling the portfolio 
 to act quickly when market technicals mispriced fundamental risk.                                                    |

How did the Fund perform and what factors affected relative performance? For the 12-monthreporting period ended July 31, 2025, JQC returned 7.06%. The Fund underperformed the JQC Blended Benchmark, which returned 7.84%. Top contributors to relative performance

| • |     | The Fund’s use of leverage through bank borrowings, reverse repurchase agreements and the issuance of preferred 
 shares. In addition, the Fund’s use of leverage was accretive to overall common share income.                   |

| • |     | Exposure to single B loans, particularly in lower-tier, B-rated issuers. |

| • |     | Security selection within the information technology and communication services sectors. |