European stocks climbed the most in almost three years, ending their longest losing streak in 11 years, as an ailing euro-area economy increases pressure on policy makers to provide more stimulus measures. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 2.8 percent to 318.68 at the close of trading, after a 7.7 percent slump in the past eight days dragged it to the lowest level of the year. Equities extended early gains after the European Central Bank’s Benoit Coeure said it will start buying assets within days. All 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600 advanced, with automakers jumping as an industry association said car sales revived last month. Oil and gas companies rebounded from their lowest level in three years, while banks recovered from a one-year low. “Any news coming from the ECB in terms of its asset-purchase program will be quite positive and supportive to equity markets, especially after the recent selloff,” Guillaume Duchesne, an equity strategist at BGL BNP Paribas SA in Luxembourg, said in a phone interview. “There was at the beginning of October a big negative reaction after Mario Draghi gave unclear messages to the markets and this has weighed on stock markets.” Europe led a rout that wiped more than $5.5 trillion from the value of equities worldwide since September as concern over the economic recovery re-emerged. The International Monetary Fundcut its global-growth outlook last week, and data from industrial production in Germany to retail sales in the U.S. stoked investor concern. Spain’s failure to reach its maximum target in a bond sale yesterday highlighted the fragility of the recovery. http://www.bloomberg.com/