If it's November, it must be time for some mergers. Sometime back in late July, a bored investment banking VP, mad at being stuck in the office shepherding the summer associates while all the managing directors were at their houses in the Hamptons, came up with a plan. A pitch. A huge acquisition. A strategic merger! The summer associate, blinded by the glamor of writing something that would one day soon be on the desk of the CEO of Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), or Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ), or Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX), made it look fabulous. The synergies would be mind-blowing, the financial impact, in the billions.

When the managing director was wooed back from the Hamptons with the promise of a meeting with Ken Lewis at Bank of America, or the Blackstone Group's patrician Jonathan D. Gray, she realized this was a brilliant idea. And immediately saw the M&A fee, like hundreds of gallons of revenue pushing the millwheel of the group's bonus pool. The summer associate carried the dozen color copies of the pitchbook to some vastly inferior city and the CEO was convinced.

Come November, the summer associate is pouring back Yuenglings at business school, basking in the full-time job offer he received to return to the investment bank, and in the nick of time, right before the managing director checks out for the holiday season, the mergers have been launched. They're not all successful, but that's part of the fun: that bored vice president will be ever more busy and will naturally have to cancel his trip home to Maine for Thanksgiving launching a counter-offer. Here's a rundown of the successful and not-so-successful deals of the day:

Even though it's a smaller company, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) has made a $25.9 billion bid for Phelps Dodge Corp. (NYSE:PD). If the deal closes, the new entity will be the largest publicly-traded copper company worldwide.

It's certainly a nice deal for shareholders of Phelps Dodge. The offer is for about $126 per share -- a nice premium to Friday's close of $95.02.

Interestingly enough, it appears this was a fairly quick deal (about a couple weeks). Then again, for companies of this size, it is not easy to keep things confidential.

The deal means Freeport-McMoRan would be taking on a lot of debt. Then again, the debt markets are quite frothy right now. Besides, Freeport-McMoRan knows how to generate strong cash flows, which will help to pay-down the debt load.

Besides being accretive on the short-run, the long-term prospects of this deal look good as well. After all, China and India are undergoing major growth, which should mean a big need for copper. To fulfill this growing need for copper, Freeport-McMoRan needs a highly scalable global platform. And Phelps Dodge is certainly a great fit.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.

I might as well have called this post This Morning in M&A. Mergers or not, stock futures are negative, indicating a lower start fro stock.

Why this bearish sentiment? Don't deals usually help lift the market? Well, first there was a sell-off in overseas markets with the Nikkei 225 closing more than 2.2% down and other Asian markets also closing down. European stock markets are also negative at the moment.

G20 leaders met over the weekend in Australia. The leaders were optimistic about world economic growth, expecting a solid pace above the long-term average. At the same time, they are expecting a moderate slowdown in growth and caution about inflation. The leaders also warned of rising protectionism to trade and investments.

There is very little economic data due out this week. Today, October leading indicator will be released at 10:00 a.m. Economists are expecting a 0.2% rise.

The deals:

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (NYSE:FCX) will acquire Phelps Dodge Corp. (NYSE:PD) for $25.9 billion in cash and stock to create the world's largest publicly traded copper company. In early pre-market, FCX shares are down nearly 5.5% while PD shares are up more than 26%.

The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NASDAQ:NDAQ) launched a $5.1 billion bid to take over the London Stock Exchange, seeking to create a trans-atlantic giant to compete with the New York Stock Exchange's acquisition of the four Euronext exchanges.

According the Wall Street Journal, Bank of America Corp. (NYSE:BAC) should announce today that it is paying $3.3 billion for U.S. Trust, the private-banking arm of Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ:SCHW).

Private equity buyout firm Blackstone Group agreed to buy U.S. office building owner Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE:EOP) in a deal valued at nearly $19 billion excluding debt.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:CHKP) said it would buy data security company Protect Data AB for about $586 million.

Russia's biggest steelmaker, Evraz Group SA, has agreed to buy Oregon Steel Mills Inc. (NYSE:OS) for $2.3 billion in cash.

Today on Jim Cramer's STOP TRADING segment on CNBC, he raved: "the market is making fortunes people!"

He said Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE:YUM) and McDonald's Corporation (NYSE:MCD) are winning on food and he was positive on Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI) and The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG).

He said the fuel is coming out of oil and out of staples, and "the market is going higher." He even used the "so sue me" disclaimer afterward, but that's Cramer for you.

PepsiCo, Inc. (NYSE:PEP) wasn't that great and he is out of Kellogg Company (NYSE:K).

Phelps Dodge Corporation (NYSE:PD) is big and it is going to par, meaning $100. PD is trading at just under $93.00 as of his comments.

Now here is the problem with his segment; it's not just the criticism he gets so often, that he has too many pieces of advice. He was talking so fast you could barely understand him. He jokes about taking drugs; it would be easier to keep up if you were on speed while you watched.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.