Last week, Rio Tinto Plc (RTP) suspended talks with Chinese steelmakers over price cuts on iron ore. Rio, BHP Billiton (BHP) and Brazil’s Vale S.A. (VALE) were participating in the negotiation.

Tensions between China and Rio grew when the world’s second-largest miner spiked a deal with Aluminum Corp. of China (ACH). According to the contract, Chinalco would have invested $19.5 billion in the debt laden Rio. However, the Rio decided to form a joint-venture with rival BHP instead. Again, tension over the talks rose when four Rio employees were detained on July 5 and later charged with bribery and commercial espionage.

China, the world’s largest importer of iron ore, is now looking for just a 35% price cut, versus the 40% it wanted back in June, according to a Bloomberg report. That is slightly over the 33% cut that Rio has been proposing all along.

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Today we are featuring top-performing “Income" equity mutual funds, which primarily invest in equity securities of companies.

Investors can find such funds by checking out the entire list of the Zacks #1 Rank Income Equity Funds.

3 Strong Samples

Azzad Ethical Income (AEIFX) seeks current income and capital with long-term capital appreciation as a secondary consideration.

The fund normally invests at least 80% of assets in equity securities of dividend paying companies. It may invest in foreign securities and acceptable fixed income bank deposits or securities.

Aluminum Corp of China Ltd. (ACH), Wyeth (WYE) and Buckle Inc. (BKE) are among the fund’s key holdings.

Pioneer Equity Income A (PEQIX) was incepted in July 1990. The investment seeks current income and long-term growth of capital.

The fund invests at least 80% of total assets in income producing equity securities of U.S.

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Profit From the “New Decoupling”

Tony Daltorio, The Investment U Research Team

Emerging markets first hit investors’ radar screen about 20 or so years ago. There was a lot of skepticism and a lack of understanding about emerging markets, which was understandable because there were few emerging markets open enough (or large enough) to invest in with a degree of safety.

That has all changed in the past two decades as most emerging markets are open to foreign investments and have a high degree of liquidity. The number of so-called emerging markets has also grown from a mere handful to over 60.

Yet Wall Street seems to have missed these changes – there is still a lot of skepticism on Wall Street when it comes to investing in emerging markets. That is where the opportunity for investors lies.

Famed investor

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The base metals were mostly lower on Thursday. Copper sank from the pre-dawn hours to mid-morning, bottoming at $2.24, but rallied back from there to finish at $2.2754/lb., down more than 3½ cents. 

Nickel had a pair of jagged ups and downs to mid-morning, but blazed higher from there, closing just off its intraday highs at $7.4382/lb., up 13 cents. Zinc was also choppy, ending little changed at $0.6994/lb., down a half-cent. Aluminum was weak, dropping more than a penny, to $0.7267/lb., while lead also sagged, shedding more than a penny and three-quarters, to $0.7626/lb.

Copper led all the industrial metals but nickel downward yesterday, as traders heeded the strengthening dollar and were spooked by bad economic data from both the U.S. and Europe that served notice a global economic recovery could be a long time in coming.

“When you have these continued weak employment reports, yes, they show maybe we

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* Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) announced that it plans 22,000 new hirings in its US stores this year. Last year the firm added 33,800 jobs, a tally which includes Sam's Clubs, unlike the prior number. The company's annual meeting is scheduled for Friday

* Prudential (NYSE:PRU) shares declined 2.9% following its $1.25 billion share offering was priced at $39 per share

* Aluminum Corp. of China (NYSE:ACH) may revise its Rio Tinto (NYSE:RTP) $19.5 billion deal before the expiration of its June 14 deadline

* Ciena (NASDAQ:CIEN) reported a fiscal second quarter loss of 25 cents a share, a 16 cent miss, as revenues plunged 40.5% to $144 million* Costco's (NASDAQ:COST) reported its May same-store-sales dropped 7%, more than the expected 6.4% decline

* Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) received a Bernstein analyst upgrade due to its capital strength, permitting the firm to take advantage of improving conditions in fixed income, currency and commodity markets

* United Airlines (NASDAQ:UAUA)

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Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (ACH) Associated British Foods Plc (ASBFY) Compania Cervecerias Unidas SA (CCU) Check Point Software Technologies Ltd (CHKP) Comcast Corp (CMCSK) Corrections Corporation of America (CXW) DeVry Inc (DV) Dollar Tree Inc (DLTR) ITT Educational Services Inc (ESI) Jones Apparel Group Inc (JNY) Mead Johnson Nutrition Co (MJN) Northrim BanCorp Inc (NRIM) O'Reilly Automotive Inc (ORLY) Perdigao SA (PDA) Rent-A-Center Inc (RCII) Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) Shore Bancshares Inc (SHBI) Universal Electronics Inc (UEIC) WestAmerica Bancorp (WABC) Williams-Sonoma Inc (WSM)View the entire Zacks #1 Rank List.

"ACH" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"ASBFY" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"CCU" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? ...

Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Acxiom Corp (ACXM) Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd (ACH) Associated British Foods Plc (ASBFY) Biovail Corp (BVF) Borders Group Inc (BGP) Capitol Federal Financial (CFFN) Children's Place Retail Stores Inc (PLCE) China Medical Technologies Inc (CMED) Flanders Corp (FLDR) Forest Oil Corp (FST) Fuqi International Inc (FUQI) Hanesbrands Inc (HBI) Heartland Financial USA Inc (HTLF) HMS Holdings Corp (HMSY) Longtop Financial Technologies Ltd (LFT) Luxottica Group SpA (LUX) Netflix Inc (NFLX) Nordson Corp (NDSN) North American Energy Partners Inc (NOA) PennantPark Investment Corp (PNNT) Phillips-Van Heusen Corp (PVH) PLATO Learning Inc (TUTR) Rent-A-Center Inc (RCII) J Sainsbury Plc (JSAIY) Sanderson Farms Inc (SAFM) Sturm Ruger & Co (RGR) TELUS ...

The base metals were all green shoots on Friday. Copper started up in the pre-dawn hours and, except for a late morning downblip, maintained momentum through the day to finish at $2.0741/lb., up 6¼ cents.

Nickel was up all day, closing at its intraday high of $5.7281/lb., up 26 1/3 cents. Zinc also blasted to its intraday high of $0.6737/lb., up more than 3 cents. Aluminum gained modestly, ending at $0.6381/lb., up less than a half-cent, while lead added a penny and 2/3, to $0.646/lb.

Copper led the industrial metals higher, amid record Chinese imports and steadily declining inventories.

Also factoring in was the weaker dollar.

Word from Chinese customs yesterday was that imports of copper rose by 7% in April, as buyers replenished stockpiles. “The strength of Chinese import demand has been pretty phenomenal,” Kevin Norrish, of Barclays Capital in London. “We’ve seen that confirmed again in the import statistics.”

Inbound shipments of refined

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The base metals were adrift on a red sea on Thursday. Copper declined steadily from the pre-dawn hours through the noon hour, after which it edged back up over the $2 mark to finish at $2.0121/lb., down 6 2/3 cents.

Nickel also sank all day, barely coming off its intraday lows to close at $5.465/lb., down almost 18 cents. Zinc followed a similar path, ending at $0.6421/lb., down 2¼ cents. Aluminum fell hard, giving up nearly 2¼ cents, to $0.6381/lb., while lead plunged more than 2 1/3 cents, to $0.6294/lb.

Copper led the industrial metal sector lower, as gloomy remarks about the future of the economy from Fed officials made their way into print.

The policy makers cited a “significant downside” potential for the economy, projecting that the recession will linger through this year with unemployment reaching as high as 9.6 percent. The forecasts are much more pessimistic than the

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Here are the stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today:

Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (ACH) American Financial Group (AFG) American Superconductor Corp (AMSC) Ashland Inc (ASH) Flamel Technologies SA (FLML) Johnson Outdoors Inc (JOUT) KongZhong Corp (KONG) Maidenform Brands Inc (MFB) Mediacom Communications Corp (MCCC) Neenah Paper Inc (NP) O'Charley's Inc (CHUX) Parke Bancorp Inc (PKBK) priceline.com Inc (PCLN) Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc (SBGI) Starlims Technologies Ltd (LIMS) TravelCenters of America LLC (TA) Trinity Biotech Plc (TRIB) Winn-Dixie Stores Inc (WINN) View the entire Zacks #1 Rank List.

"ACH" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"AFG" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"AMSC" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"ASH" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?"FLML" ...