These are the top funds in five major categories, ranked according to three-year returns. We primarily consider funds with managers in place for at least three years; the only exceptions are managers with at least three years’ experience in a similar capacity. We don’t rank funds with front-or back-end loads greater than 3 percent or funds that are closed to new investors, have less than $25 million in assets, have minimums of $10,000 or more, have trust restrictions or are single-state muni-bond funds.

All data as of 7/31/10.

Source: Morningstar, Bloomberg

The Louis Rukeyser Honor Roll

Funds that have been on The Rukeyser 100 more than 80 percent of the past three years (at least 29 out of 36 months) make it onto The Louis Rukeyser Honor Roll. Their names are in green and marked with laurels.

On The Move

? Intrepid Small Cap

(ICMAX) has faltered after the departure of Eric Cinnamond, who managed the fund for four years. Cinnamond’s departure was sudden. He left Intrepid Capital Management to join River Road Asset Management, where he will serve as Vice President and Portfolio Manager of River Road Independent Value, launched on Sept. 15.

? Despite performing in line with its peers in the first quarter, a solid second-quarter performance has bumped  Auxier Focus (AUXFX) close to the head of the pack. Bets on consumer goods and services paid off for manager J. Jeffrey Auxier, as the sectors performed better than expected. Many of the fund’s competitors had underweighted those segments in favor of more defensive plays.

? Vanguard Wellesley Income (VWINX) is the newest addition to our Balanced/Multi- Asset category. For more information, see our fund profile on page 7.

Added This Month

Artio Global High Income A
Auxier Focus
Cullen High Dividend Equity
Cutler Equity
Dreyfus Municipal Bond
Fidelity Freedom Income
Fidelity Select Consumer Staples
Hussman Strategic Growth
ISI Managed Municipal A
Managers Global Bond
Matthews Asian Growth & Income
Metropolitan West Total Return Bond M
Northern Emerging Markets Equity
Payden Global Short Bond
Pinnacle Value
Robeco All Cap Value
Rydex Consumer Products
Thornburg Intermediate Municipal A
Vanguard Wellesley Income

Funds Dropped This Month

American Century Core Plus
American Century Equity Income
Aston/Montag & Caldwell Balanced
Baird Intermediate Muni Bond
Black Oak Emerging Technology
Bridgeway Blue Chip 35 Index
DWS Managed Municipal Bonds A
FBR Small Cap Financial Investor
Fidelity Capital & Income
Fidelity New Markets Income
Homestead Small Company Stock
Intrepid Small Cap
Invesco Tax-Free Intermediate A
Marsico Global
Matthews China
T Rowe Price Dividend Growth
T Rowe Price Emerging Markets Bond
T Rowe Price Personal Strat Income
TCW Growth Equities I