Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s remarks last Friday—reassuring the U.S. Central Bank was ready to take further steps if needed to spur the stateside recovery and downplaying concerns the U.S. economy might slip back into recession—were strong enough to help stocks rebound but nevertheless, the three main indexes ended the week in negative territory. Bernanke suggested the U.S. Central Bank could buy more debt securities to keep interest rates low, adding he expected the U.S. economy to grow next year. The Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500 index racked up their third week of declines in a row. For the week, the Dow was down 62.97, or 0.62%, to 10,150.65. The S&P 500 lost 26.13, or 0.66%, to 1,064.59, while the Nasdaq skidded 26.13, or 1.20%, to 2,153.63.

On the local front, the Government Development Bank’s Puerto Rico Stock Index (PRSI) was able to pull off its first positive week in a month with only one component edging lower. Leading the list of gainers was Doral Financial Corp., which added 29 cents, or 25.66%, to close at $1.42. It was followed by Oriental Financial Group, which gained 94 cents, or 7.40%, to close at $13.65. Triple-S Management Corp. edged up 29 cents, or 1.80%, to close at $16.37, while Popular Inc. stock climbed 2 cents, or 0.78%, to close at $2.58. Last week’s sole nongainer was First BanCorp, which erased 8 cents, or 15.69%, to close at 43 cents despite successfully completing a preferred to common stock conversion Aug. 25. The exchange resulted in $487.1 million, or 88.54%, of the aggregate liquidation preference of the preferred stock being validly tendered.