US indices look set to test record highs - Fed permitting

US stocks rose last week thanks to a palatable jobs report and now the major indices look set to test record highs as long as Federal Reserve officials due to speak this week do not spoil the party.

About 215,000 new employees were added to payrolls in March, more than most economists had forecast and enough to suggest that the slowdown on oilfields and in factories is tapering off. It was one of those market-friendly reports associated with "Goldilocks" porridge - hot enough to alleviate worries that the US would follow other nations worldwide into recession, but not so hot that it would change the Fed's rate plans.

Much of the recent recovery in the stock market was predicated on Fed chair Janet Yellen's hints t…