NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Stocks rallied for a second day running Thursday as investors liked what they heard from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the economy's doing well despite near record energy prices.

The Fed chief even hinted that a pause in the central bank's 22-month interest rate-hiking campaign may be on tap.

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The Dow Jones industrial average (up 28.02 to 11,382.51, Charts) climbed nearly 0.3 percent and hit a fresh six-year high, putting the blue-chip indicator at its highest level since Jan. 19, 2000.

The Nasdaq composite (up 11.32 to 2,344.95, Charts) gained 0.5 percent, and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 4.31 to 1,309.72, Charts) index added about 0.3 percent, ending just below a five-year high.

"Bernanke's testimony is the perfect excuse for the market to keep rallying over the next couple of days," said Peter Cardillo, chief market analyst at S.W. Bach & Co. But if the price of oil heats up again, the market will quickly turn its focus back to energy, he cautioned.

Falling oil also helped stocks, with crude sinking nearly $1 a barrel, bringing the front-month contract down about 5 percent for the week after hitting record highs last week.

Appearing before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Bernanke said the economy had rebounded briskly after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, but said that the pace was likely to slow after what's expected to be a strong first quarter.

He also talked about the risks of high oil and gas prices and noted the central bank will analyze economic numbers especially closely as it decides whether to keep raising rates. (Full story).

Both the stock and bond markets reacted to the Fed chairman's comments. Stocks reversed early losses, then see-sawed before finally pushing higher.

Treasury prices reversed course as well as bond investors took Bernanke's comments to mean that the Fed would keep inflation in check.

The 10-year note rose 8/32 to 95-19/32, lowering the yield to 5.07 percent from 5.12 percent before the speech and from 5.10 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

After the market close, Microsoft (Research) posted third-quarter earnings and sales that fell short of Wall Street analysts' expectations and also issued a weaker-than-expected forecast for the current quarter, sending its shares tumbling about 5 percent in after- hours trading. (Full story.)

Looking ahead, investors will be tuning in to the government's first look at the economy's first-quarter performance Friday. Wall Street is expecting a blockbuster number, with economists forecasting growth of 4.9 percent after a sluggish fourth quarter, according to analyst polled by Briefing.com.

Elsewhere, Exxon Mobil (Research) fell 1 percent during regular trading and slid further in extended trading after the nation's biggest oil company reported quarterly earnings rose to $1.37 a share but missed forecasts. (Full story.)

Fellow Dow component Honeywell (down $0.94 to $43.13, Research) lost 2 percent after J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "neutral."

Caterpillar (down $0.89 to $75.06, Research) and Alcoa (down $1.56 to $33.40, Research) dragged on the Dow as well, after having led the blue-chip advance over the last few sessions.

Vitesse Semiconductor (down $0.69 to $1.82, Research) slumped 27.5 percent in unusually active Nasdaq trading after the communications chipmaker said that it would need to restate more than three years of financial statements due to accounting errors found by a review panel.

Last week, the company said it placed its CEO, chief financial officer and an executive vice president on leave due to potential improper accounting for stock option grants.

Aetna (down $9.43 to $37.00, Research) shares sank 20 percent in active New York Stock Exchange trade after the company reported improved quarterly earnings, but also said a key measure of medical costs worsened, due to higher hospital and drug costs.

Late Wednesday, the healthcare provider said that a laptop containing personal information on about 38,000 of its members was stolen from an employee's car.

On the upside, shares of Bank of America (up $1.33 to $49.04, Research) and JPMorgan (up $1.29 to $43.95, Research) both rose around 3 percent, touching fresh 52-week highs.

Comcast (up $1.25 to $30.45, Research) said first-quarter income more than tripled, sending shares of the cable operator up over 4 percent.

In the tech sector, Mentor Graphics (up $1.79 to $13.14, Research) and Kronos (up $5.02 to $45.71, Research) surged over 15 percent and 12 percent respectively after posting quarterly earnings that were higher than a year ago and beat forecasts.

Market breadth was mixed. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners narrowly beat losers on volume of 2.1 billion shares. On the Nasdaq, decliners edged out advancers on volume of 2.6 billion shares.

Light, sweet crude oil for June delivery fell 96 cents to $70.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

COMEX gold for June delivery fell $5.70 to $636.30 an ounce.

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