After three straight weeks of declines, the Los Angeles Business Journal’s index of the 200 largest public companies bounced back this week, with 120 posting gains or staying even, culminating in a 1.8 percent gain for the week.

Making up the most ground was Pasadena-based lender IndyMac Financial Corp. Once the second-largest alt-A lender in the country, IndyMac announced it was trimming a quarter of its workforce in an effort to become profitable by midyear. Investors must have agreed with the move, sending shares up 38 percent for the week to $6.12.

Los Angeles-based homebuilder KB Home stock also had a strong week, rising 27 percent. Its shares benefited from news that the Federal Reserve would be cutting rates, which inspired investors to pick up bargain stocks. Shares closed the week at $23.52.

The rate cut also buoyed shares in Rancho Cucamonga-based PFF Bancorp. and Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. Their stocks gained 22 percent to $9.77 and 20 percent to $5.97, respectively.

On the way down was Chatsworth-based Image Entertainment Inc., which is a licensee, producer and distributor of home entertainment programming. Shares in Image dropped nearly 50 percent for the week after news that its proposed merger with BTP Acquisition Co. was on the rocks. Shares closed at $1.55, a 52-week low that arrived a short three months after hitting a 52-week high of $4.50.

Shares in videogame developer THQ Inc. also had a tough week; shedding 22 percent after the Agoura Hills company predicted a gloomy 2008 and lowered its guidance. Shares closed at $19.37 after hitting a 52-week low Jan. 24 of $16.36.