Washington ? Chairman Ben Bernanke says that the U.S. job market remains weak despite three months of strong hiring and that the Federal Reserve’s existing policies will help boost economic growth.

Bernanke’s comments Monday to a group of economists in Arlington, Va., drove stocks higher. Many took his cautious words about the economy to mean the Fed is likely to stick to its plan to hold short-term interest rates at record lows through 2014.

Though the hiring has helped support consumer confidence and incomes, “we have not seen that in a persuasive way yet,” Bernanke said. The Fed needs to “remain cautious” in deciding what its next moves should be, he said.

Further job gains will likely require stronger consumer and business demand, Bernanke said in a speech to the National Association for Business Economics spring conference.

The association has 2,500 member economists who work for corporations, universities, the government and trade associations. Bernanke was addressing the group for the first time since 2008.

After Bernanke spoke, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 160 points, its third-biggest gain of the year. Broader indexes also increased.

The surge in hiring since December had led some economists to predict that the Fed might consider raising rates earlier than planned. But many took Bernanke’s cautious tone as a firmer commitment to the late-2014 timetable.

And some viewed the speech as a signal that the Fed might take further steps, if the economy falters, to try to further drive down long-term borrowing rates. The goal would be to encourage more spending by consumers and businesses.

Robert Dye, chief economist at Dallas-based Comerica bank, said the Fed might extend a program of shuffling its investment portfolio to shift more of its holdings into long-term Treasurys. That could help lower long-term rates. Or the Fed could launch another round of bond-buying.

Employers added an average of 245,000 jobs a month from December through February. The unemployment rate has fallen nearly a full percentage point since summer, to 8.3 percent.