NEW YORK — Stocks posted small gains Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank will stick to its efforts to spur the economy.
In a speech at the National Press Club, Bernanke said the Fed expects the economy to improve this year and inflation to remain low despite the jump in commodity prices.
“Chairman Bernanke basically indicated in his speech that he considers unemployment to be the bigger problem than inflation and that the Fed will continue to focus on that,” said Doug Roberts, chief market strategist at Channel Capital Research.
The Federal Reserve is on track to buy $600 billion in bonds, a tactic known as quantitative easing, aimed at spurring lending and making stock ownership more attractive. Some economists had worried that the Fed could end its bond purchases earlier than anticipated.
Stocks had fallen for most of the day as concerns over violent protests in Egypt weighed against better-than-expected economic news in the U.S. Some analysts worry about the stability of the Middle East and the unrest’s impact on oil-rich countries throughout the region.
“That’s the fear,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners.
But better-than-expected January sales figures sent shares in retail companies higher.
Consumer-discretionary companies in the Standard and Poor’s 500-stock index gained 1.2 percent after national chains reported that sales were nearly double what analysts had forecast despite heavy snowstorms in much of the nation.
The S&P 500 — the benchmark for most U.S. mutual funds — gained 3.07 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 1,307.10. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 20.29 points, or 0.2 percent, to 12,062.26.
The Nasdaq composite rose 4.32 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,753.88.
“Consumer-discretionary stocks are rocking,” said Michael Vogelzang, president and chief investment officer at Boston Advisors in Boston. “The numbers from some of the more mainline retailers have been pulling the market up all day clearly.”
