European stocks rose to their highest level in almost seven years amid speculation the European Central Bank will consider quantitative easing at its January meeting, and as German factory orders and U.S. payrolls beat forecasts. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.8 percent to 350.97 at the close of trading. Germany’s DAX Index reached a record. The benchmark European gauge, which posted its fourth weekly advance, slid yesterday after ECB President Mario Draghi refrained from pledging QE for the euro area at the Governing Council meeting. Draghi said the ECB will reassess the situation early next year. The council expects to consider a proposal for broad-based asset purchases including sovereign debt at the next monetary-policy meeting on Jan. 22, according to two euro-area central-bank officials familiar with the deliberations. “European markets are liquidity addicts at the moment,” Otto Waser, chief investment officer at R&A Research & Asset Management AG in Zurich, said by telephone. “You get rallies whenever somebody eases in the world. The bounce back has been in part due to slightly better economic trends in Europe. We had fears in the market of a possible recession in Germany and they avoided recession so the euro zone looks better.” German factory orders, adjusted for seasonal swings and inflation, climbed 2.5 percent after a revised increase of 1.1 percent in September, data from the Economy Ministry in Berlin showed today. Economists had predicted a 0.5 percent increase. bloomberg