Aug. 10 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks dropped, with the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index falling from a 12-week high, as economic data from China signaled weakness in the global recovery ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting today. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. fell 2.2 percent as metal prices declined after growth in Chinese imports slowed. Exxon Mobil Corp. dropped 1 percent as the price of oil fell. MBIA Inc., the owner of the largest bond insurer, jumped 4.1 percent after profit rose in the second quarter. Novell Inc. slumped 2.2 after lowering its third-quarter sales forecast. Intel Corp. slipped 2.7 percent. The S&P 500 slipped 0.8 percent to 1,118.94 as of 9:35 a.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 75.69 points, or 0.7 percent, to 10,623.06. “We’re seeing continuing slowing in a soft recovery at best,” said Michael Holland, who oversees more than $4 billion as chairman of Holland & Co. in New York. “With the global economic data coming in this weak, we’re going to have a bias to the downside in the market up until the Fed meeting.” The Federal Open Market Committee plans to release a statement at about 2:15 p.m. in Washington. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said July 21 that the central bank wasn’t ready to take any action in the “near term.” At the same time, his assessment that the economic outlook remains “unusually uncertain,” along with recent weakness in housing and manufacturing, are fueling speculation by some economists that the Fed will take steps as soon as today. The S&P 500 gained 0.6 percent yesterday, its highest close since May 17, amid speculation the Fed may introduce measures to stimulate economic growth today. Productivity Drops The productivity of U.S. workers unexpectedly fell in the second quarter, showing companies may find it harder to keep cutting costs as the recovery unfolds. The measure of employee output per hour decreased at a 0.9 percent annual rate, the first drop since the end of 2008, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Confidence among U.S. chief executive officers fell this quarter for the first time in a year as their outlook on sales, employment and the economy weakened, a survey from the Young Presidents’ Organization showed. Confidence among U.S. small businesses fell in July to the lowest level in four months, led by declining expectations for economic growth, a private survey found. Freeport-McMoRan Freeport, the world’s second-biggest copper producer, slipped 2.2 percent to $73.08. Copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc all fell on the London Metal Exchange amid concern that demand from China may cool. In China, customs bureau data showed July imports grew at the slowest pace since November, missing economists’ forecasts. The trade surplus increased to an 18-month high, signaling a diminished contribution to global growth and adding to pressure on China to allow faster appreciation of the yuan. Property prices in 70 major Chinese cities climbed 10.3 percent from a year earlier in July, the slowest pace for six months, the statistics bureau’s newspaper, China Information News, said. Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company, fell 1 percent to $61.80. Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy producer, slipped 1 percent to $78.50. Crude oil for September delivery dropped as much as 1.6 percent to $80.16 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. China Oil Imports China, the world’s largest energy consumer, imported 19 million tons of crude in July, down from a record 22.3 million tons in June, according to data today from the General Administration of Customs. MBIA soared 4.1 percent to $9.57 after reporting a 45 percent jump in second-quarter earnings on a change in the value of derivatives contracts. Net income increased to $1.3 billion, or $6.32 a share, for the three months ended in June, from $895 million, or $4.30, in the year-earlier period, the company said. Novell slumped 2.2 percent to $5.88. The maker of Linux operating-system software lowered its third-quarter sales forecast to a range of $197 million to $199 million. Analysts were expecting $207 million on average in a Bloomberg survey. Intel Corp., the world’s largest computer chipmaker, lost 2.2 percent to $20.20. Fossil Inc. rose 5.9 percent to $44.99. The fashion watch and jewelry company forecast third-quarter profit excluding some items in a range of 68 to 72 cents a share, versus the average analyst estimate of 64 cents a share in a Bloomberg survey. --With assistance from Julie Cruz in Frankfurt. Editors: Joanna Ossinger, Stephanie Borise To contact the reporter on this story: Nikolaj Gammeltoft in New York at ngammeltoft@bloomberg.net. To contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net.

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