I managed to see Venus on November 1, very low in the west, about 6:30 local time. It should be somewhat higher in the sky now. Mercury reached its highest point in the sky on November 14, magnitude -0.3, which is a little brighter than Vega or Arcturus. It should be a couple of degrees below Venus (haven’t managed to see it yet this time around). It will be in inferior conjunction either Dec. 3 or 4. There will be a partial eclipse of the sun on Nov. 25, not visible in the US (it will be late Nov. 24 US time). The new moon will pass 1.75 degrees North of Mercury on November 26 but I don’t know if Mercury will be high enough above the horizon to be seen easily by then.
That should be magnuitude minus 0.3 (when my previous message posted the minus sign appeared at the end of the previous line) for Mercury.
By the way, November 1st was still Daylight Saving Time—6:30 p.m. would be the equivalent of 5:30 standard time. It wasn’t fully dark yet but Venus was already visible (Mercury wasn’t but I didn’t have a chance to hunt for it with binoculars...I was driving at the time).