WASHINGTON — The government's "stress tests" of the nation's 19 largest banks should bolster Americans' battered confidence in U.S. banking system, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Monday as he defended the rigor of the exams.

The much-anticipated results, released Thursday, showed that 10 banks — including Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup — must raise a total of $75 billion in new capital to absorb potential losses if the recession were to take a turn for the worst. The remaining nine — JPMorgan Chase and brokerage house Goldman Sachs Group among them — had enough capital to withstand a deeper recession.

"We hope and expect that the public and investors will take considerable comfort from the fact that our largest financial institutions have been evaluated in a comprehensive and rigorous fashion," Bernanke told a Fed conference on financial markets held at Jekyll Island, Ga.

Wall Street did get a boost last week as the stress tests helped to push prices for bank stocks higher. However, that rally fizzled out on Monday as bank shares dragged the market lower.

Regulators determined that four of the banks — U.S. Bancorp., Capital One Financial Corp., BB&T and Bank of New York Mellon — were sound enough to survive a deeper recession. Those institutions announced Monday that they planned to issue stock to help repay money the government doled out last year to shore up the nation's banking system.

While that's a good sign that banks can again turn to Wall Street to raise money by selling stocks, the reality of extra shares pouring into the market weighed on financial stocks.

Bernanke said it would take time to evaluate whether the stress-test process helps to reduce the uncertainty that has hung over the economy about banks' future losses and capital needs.

"However, the initial indications are encouraging," he said.