New York ? Stocks bounded higher Thursday as bullish congressional testimony from Alan Greenspan and anticipation for a strong midquarter update from Intel Corp. brightened Wall Street’s mood and overshadowed a surge in oil prices.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan testifies before the congressional Joint Economic Committee on Capitol Hill. He said the economy seemed to be on reasonably

The Federal Reserve chairman told lawmakers the economy seemed to be on “reasonably firm footing,” with inflation under control. His generally positive assessment supports the view that the Fed, which had raised interest rates eight times during the past year, likely will continue nudging rates higher. Fed policy-makers are widely expected to raise the federal funds rate by another quarter-point to 3.25 percent at their next meeting June 29-30.

“Once everyone sifted through all the comments, the realization was that he hasn’t changed his thoughts about the economy,” said Peter Cardillo, chief strategist at S.W. Bach & Co. in New York. “He doesn’t think the economy is ready to fall off a cliff, and that’s basically a strong fundamental for the stock market.”

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 26.16, or 0.2 percent, to 10,503.02, after spending the first part of the session in negative territory.

Greenspan’s remarks had some analysts speculating that the Fed would likely continue raising short-term rates through the third quarter, perhaps to the 4 percent level. With the rate cycle’s end in sight, stock investors can look forward to more stability, said Hans F. Olsen, chief investment officer at Bingham Legg Advisers, a private wealth management firm in Boston.

“You can start to see the end is near. … The interest rate increase regime is coming to a close, and that is an unambiguous positive development for equities,” Olsen said. “For the balance of the year, I think that sets us up for a good second half.”