PIONEER EXPANDS FIXED-INCOME GROUP; SEES BRIGHT OUTLOOK FOR BONDS

Now, Pioneer welcomes municipal bond manager, David Eurkus, a 30-year industry veteran who was most recently with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and before that at Putnam Investments. He joins the management teams of Pioneer Tax-Free Income Fund and Pioneer's separate account muni offerings.

Eurkus joins a group with significant expertise across bond sectors. The last two years saw the arrival of Ken Taubes, head of fixed-income, who focuses on corporates, Margaret Patel, who manages high-yield issues, and Tim Pynchon, as a high-yield credit analyst. They join longtime department members Richard Schlanger, Salvatore Pramas, Joanne Fisher, and Andrew Feltus.

"We see enormous growth opportunities for bonds in the coming years," said Taubes. "We have planned our business around capturing the growth that we believe is inevitable in light of a beneficial economic cycle with growth peaking last year, attractive relative valuations on a historic basis, and demographics favorable for bonds. In addition, investors have been underweight the sector as a result of the multi-year run-up in equities."

Since the combination of Pioneer Investment Management, Inc. and UniCredito's Dublin-based investment management arm in October 2000, Pioneer's Boston-based bond group also has had access to all the resources of its Dublin affiliate, Pioneer Investment Management, Ltd. Together, the group manages about $50 billion in fixed-income assets.

"Bonds are looking more attractive than anytime in recent memory," said Taubes. "Fixed-income markets have become more positive as our economy's rapid growth has decelerated. The sharp drop in U.S. Treasury yields-precipitated by the Fed's continued easing stance-has not yet been fully felt by other fixed-income sectors. But, as the Fed moves to provide more liquidity in coming quarters, we believe it's likely that other sectors of the credit markets will continue to perform better as the U.S. economy troughs and begins to improve into 2002."

# # # #

Note: Past performance does not guarantee future results. This release should not be deemed as an offer of any fund or of any security described within it. There can be no assurance that markets or bonds will perform as expected. Investments in lower-rated bonds involve more risk than more highly rated bonds, and may be more volatile or less liquid.

*Rankings by Lipper, Inc. are based on total return and include Class A at net asset value without a sales charge. Since its 4/15/99 inception through 12/31/00, the Pioneer Strategic Income Fund ranked #25 of 116 multi-sector income funds. Class B, C and Y shares are also available in both funds. For information on Pioneer Strategic Income Fund, Pioneer High Yield Fund, or Pioneer Tax-Free Income Fund, including charges and expenses, please request a prospectus from your investment representative or Pioneer at 800-225-6292. Please read it carefully before you invest or send money. Pioneer Funds Distributor, Inc. is the Underwriter and Distributor for Pioneer Mutual Funds.