Preserve Your Assets With Muni Funds

For more coverage from TheStreet.com Ratings team, check out TheStreet.com Ratings section.

The right-side brains of capitalists may be horrified by even a partial nationalization of the global banking system. Meanwhile, amid the current selloff, the left-side brains of these same investors love the idea and only fear that it won't come soon enough.

For those investors who do not believe the panic last Friday marked the bottom, TheStreet.com Ratings team has compiled the 10 best-rated open-end bond mutual funds based on risk-adjusted performance though Sept. 30.

None of these funds earned a rating of A+ within our universe of open-end fixed income fund rankings because they were crowded out by the steady returns of 215 different money market funds.

The best-rated bond fund as of the end of the third quarter is the Alpine Ultra Short Tax Optimized Income Fund (ATOIX Quote), which has a rating of A, or buy. Aside from 2.7% in corporate debt, the remainder of the fund's portfolio is invested in municipal obligations such as the Volusia County, Fla., Multi-Family Housing Authority and a Scottsdale, Ariz., hospital.