The supercommittee appears unlikely to settle on a deficit agreement. (Reuters)

A senior Chinese official says he expects the global recession to last for some time. (Reuters)

Spain’s center-right People’s Party gains a majority in parliament as work on austerity grows. (Reuters)

Delphi Automotive (NYSE: DLPH) may begin M&A work once its IPO is done. (Reuters)

Some retailers, including Gap (NYSE: GPS), Zales (NYSE: ZLC) and Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), expect a hard holiday season. (WSJ)

Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) pays $60 million to settle bribery claims brought by the government. (WSJ)

Clearwire (NASDAQ: CLWR) may skip a large dept payment. (WSJ)

Twenty-two states set partial-work patterns that allow workers to operate part-time and receive reduced unemployment checks. (WSJ)

The used car business is growing quickly in China. (WSJ)

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) takes responsibility for a major spill off Brazil’s coast. (WSJ)

Many monthly magazines have ad page fall-offs in the fourth quarter. (WSJ)

Warren Buffett to invite analysts to the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-B) annual meeting. (WSJ)

Large U.S. companies continue to sell bonds with little impact from troubled financial markets. (WSJ)

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has trouble competing with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) Office. (NYT)

Retailers try to help catalog sales with apps. (NYT)

UBS (NYSE: UBS) may cut its bonus pool. (FT)

Volkswagen to make electric cars in China. (Bloomberg)

Foreign banks’ reserves at the Fed have doubled since the end of last year, as the financial firms seek safety. (Bloomberg)

Douglas A. McIntyre

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