Making big money in November

It was the biggest month of the year for the financial markets - stocks, corporate bonds, private equity, mergers and acquisitions. "It says to me that there is a tremendous amount of liquidity out there, and a lot of that is coming from large pools of monies, those being pension plans, foundations and endowments," said Joe Keating, chief investment officer at First American Asset Management, in the MarketBeat blog. Of particular note are the low yields that make it cheaper to finance through the debt markets. Anyway, Marketbeat's David Gaffen offers some highlights:

-It was the biggest month for high-yield issuance in history, according to Thomson Financial, with $26.5 billion in deals brought to market, led by a $6 billion deal for Freescale Semiconductor and a $5.7 billion deal for HCA.

-Investment-grade bond issuance had its most active month since March 2002, as $74.9 billion in deals came to market. For the year, $672 billion in deals have hit the market.

-Announced M&A was $198.7 billion, the biggest month since January 2000, which was the month America Online announced its combination with Time Warner. Massive deals for Clear Channel, Phelps Dodge and Equity Office Properties led the way.

-Initial public offerings recorded their biggest month since February 2005. A total of $6.5 billion in new offerings came to market, led by Spirit Aerosystems and Hertz.