year bull market for stocks. The government reported that U.S. employers added 288,000 workers to their payrolls in June and the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent. The U.S. economy is now creating about 231,000 jobs each month in 2014, compared to roughly 194,000 a month last year. The jobs report is the latest piece of data to show the world's biggest economy continues to improve steadily. Also helping stocks are solid corporate earnings and continued support from central banks. The Kospi in South Korea was little changed at 2,009.66. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.6 percent to 5,525. Markets in Southeast Asia were also higher. In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude for August delivery was up 1 cent to $104.07 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 42 cents to $104.06 on Thursday, its sixth day of declines. In currencies, the euro slipped to $1.3604 from $1.3609 late Thursday. The dollar fell to 102.09 yen from 102.21 yen.
