Europe’s debt crisis may have put a damper on financial markets in that continent, but it’s bullish in the long run for the U.S. equity market, says stock guru Jeremy Siegel.

“The good thing about the European crisis is that it brought the price of oil down into the $70s and the 10-year bond yield down to the mid-3.50s,” the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School finance professor says.

“These are very positive aspects for U.S. stocks,” he told Bloomberg.

More important is the impact of the crisis on Federal Reserve policy, says Siegel.

Until the European blow-up, he thought the Fed might announce a tightening at its June 23 meeting. But now that’s unlikely until at least August, Siegel says.

“This also has to be good for stocks.”

The fact that the stock market didn’t close 10 percent below its 2010 high during its recent correction indicates a lot of money is on the sidelines, unconvinced by the bull market, Siegel says.

If the market can return to its pre-crisis April high (11,205 on the Dow Jones Industrial Average), cautious bulls will move in, he maintains. “So there’s definitely upside in the market.”

Others believe in the bull market too. “The rally is pretty much across the board,” Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners, told The New York Times.

“It appears that some of the fear factors that have been in the market have started to subside a bit.”