Big Bernanke high

The economy may be sputtering, but Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is juicing the stock market to all-time highs.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices hit record levels yesterday after the Fed chief backtracked on recent threats to begin closing the spigot this fall on his easy-money policies.

In a speech late Wednesday, Bernanke said the 7.6-percent unemployment rate overstates the health of the jobs market, and that a “highly accommodative monetary policy for the foreseeable future” is called for.

That’s a signal that the Fed will continue its $85-billion-a-month bond-buying program, which has been keeping interest rates low and providing liquidity for the markets in the face of lackluster growth.

The Dow rose 169.26 points, or 1.1 percent, to a historic record close of 15460.92, with all 30 of the blue chip components rising.

The S&P gained 22.40 points, or 1.4 percent, to an all-time high of 1675.02, with all 10 sectors posting gains, led by materials and technology stocks.

The Nasdaq rose 57.55 points, or 1.6 percent, to 3,578.30, hitting a fresh 13-year high.

Last month, Bernanke spooked Wall Street when he said he would start tapering down the stimulus if the economy shows signs of steady improvement, slamming the Dow with back-to-back declines of more than 200 points.

Bernanke’s latest remarks emboldened investors, but some analysts said the central bank could still begin scaling back stimulus this fall if signs of a recovery mount.

“The consensus outlook is fairly robust,” Barclays analyst Michael Gapen said of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s economic forecast.

Given recent improvements in payroll data, Gapen predicts the Fed will begin trimming asset purchases at its September meeting to $70 billion per month, concluding them in March 2014.