Wall Street has worried for months that soaring oil and gasoline prices would prompt consumers to spend less. But the Commerce Department reported that retail sales jumped 1.5 percent in September, much more than the 0.6 percent gain economists forecast.

Reassuring words from Greenspan, who said surging energy costs will have less of an impact on the economy than the energy crisis of the 1970s, cheered investors even as oil prices pushed toward $55 per barrel. A barrel of light crude settled at $54.93, up 17 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

"The retail sales figures were particularly good news and could have a strong impact in over all GDP (gross domestic product) growth," said Joseph McAlinden, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Investment Management. "And certainly Greenspan's opinion on the state of the world has helped."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 38.93, or 0.39 percent, to 9,933.38, regaining some ground after a 153-point drop over Wednesday and yesterday.

Broader stock indicators were modestly higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 4.91, or 0.45 percent, at 1,108.20, and the technology-focused Nasdaq composite index gained 8.48, or 0.45 percent, to 1,911.50.

Despite today's gains, stocks ended the week lower. The sharp climb in crude oil futures weighed heavily on the markets during the week, siphoning investor enthusiasm from stocks just as third-quarter earnings season got under way. For the week, the Dow lost 1.21 percent, the S&P 500 fell 1.24 percent and the Nasdaq was down 0.44 percent.

Investors worried about inflation received good news today from the Labor Department, which said wholesale prices, as measured by the Producer Price Index, rose just 0.1 percent in September. While the PPI was up from the 0.1 percent decline in August, the figure was small enough to reassure Wall Street that inflation would not be a major problem for the foreseeable future.