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U.S. stock futures and global markets rose Friday after the Labor Department reported that the economy added 175,000 jobs in May.

Dow Jones industrial futures rose 19 points to 15,055. S&P futures gained 3.4 point to 1,626.10. Nasdaq futures tacked on 2.75 points to 2,952.25.

The unemployment rate rose to 7.6 percent from 7.5 percent in April. That is being taken as a good sign because more people are looking for work, rather than staying home as many did during the worst periods of the financial meltdown payday lenders.

Markets have been roiled all week in anticipation of the jobs report, suffering both their worst two-day losses of the year and then, Thursday, the biggest gain in three weeks.

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It’s tough job — and Earl Provost has to do it.

Serving as chief of staff to embattled Mayor Rob Ford is perhaps the most taxing political post in Canada.

Entrusted with this largely thankless gig — that will pay him between $136,000 and $150,000 a year to work seven days a week — is a Liberal stalwart.

Provost was busy his first full week on the job beating the bushes for candidates to replenish Ford’s depleted staff.

Insiders confided the mayor, who has suffered an exodus that threatens to empty his scandal-rocked office, offered raises to hold on to his remaining staffers.

The famously tight-fisted mayor amiably mentioned the increases to the dozen or so remaining aides in one-one-one meetings Thursday.

The amounts varied depending upon the roles they play in the office, the sources say.

Ford denied boosting salaries to retain aides. “No,” the mayor said gruffly Friday during a news conference outside his office, where reporters have camped out for days since the crack video debacle.

Despite his entreaties, two staff members — policy adviser Brian Johnston and the mayor’s executive assistant Kia Nejatian — resigned Thursday.

They joined former chief of staff Mark Towhey, who was fired May 23 after urging Ford to seek help for his health, and press secretary George Christopoulos and communications special assistant Isaac Ransom, who quit Monday “on principle.”

Another aide, special assistant Michael Prempeh, left Friday. He had told colleagues weeks earlier that he planned to leave.

Ford moved Friday to counter the appearance of chaos, saying he had hired three “movers and shakers” and expects to hire another three or four early next week.

New faces include special assistant Katrina Xavier-Ponniah, a recent Mount Allison University graduate.

The departures all came after the Star and U.S. website Gawker reported the existence of a video apparently showing the mayor smoking crack cocaine.

Ford has denied the allegations and played down his office turmoil.

The mayor’s new interim press secretary, Sunny Petrujkic, did not return an email from the Star to comment on the pay increases.

Sources say Provost, who also did not respond to two emails requesting comment from the Star, has been lobbied by some of his departed colleagues to leave Ford’s office.

“(They) have been pleading with him,” said one longtime pal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing private conversations.

At one point last weekend, his friends believed he would join Christopoulos and Ransom in a mass resignation, but he apparently had a change of heart.

Provost is a longtime Liberal. He was the first delegate elected to former prime minister Paul Martin’s leadership campaign in 1990 and has many friends in federal Liberal circles but far fewer at Queen’s Park.

Some of them have been imploring the hard-working bachelor for weeks to escape the maelstrom that is Ford’s office.

“But Earl is loyal to his party and he’s loyal to the mayor,” said the friend. “We want to get him out of there because we care about him and this is not a tenable situation.”

A Grit stalwart, his office boasts signed portraits of former premier Dalton McGuinty — who, oddly, never wanted to hire him — and ex-federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff.

Another friend said Provost, a graduate of both George Washington University and York University, surprised his Liberal allies when he joined the Progressive Conservative Ford’s successful 2010 mayoral campaign.

“Earl is an effective mercenary. When he’s with you, he is with you. But he understands there is a bigger game and he’s determined to be part of it,” said the second chum, who also requested anonymity to speak candidly.

Insiders say he is excellent at stakeholder relations, no easy task with a mayor who keeps a light work schedule and who has behaved erratically at events.

The Scarborough native ran to be a school board trustee in 1991 and supported controversial former councillor Tom Jakobek’s doomed 2003 mayoral bid.

But his municipal political career took a turn for the better three years ago.

That’s when he was enlisted onto a Ford campaign that was seen as such a longshot that Star was the only daily newspaper to cover his launch that spring.

Provost, as deputy campaign manager, proved his mettle as an effective organizer and headed Ford’s election-day team, which crushed one-time front-runner George Smitherman, also a Liberal.

He then moved to become Ford’s deputy chief of staff and director of stakeholder and council relations, working quietly behind the scenes as Towhey’s fiercely loyal second-in-command.

When the mayor sacked his chief of staff last week, no one was surprised Provost was tapped with the monumental task of trying to right a ship that many feel has already hit the iceberg.

He now faces what his friends fear is an impossible challenge.

“The longer Earl stays in there, the longer he is tied to these guys,” said a third frustrated Provost friend.

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The price of oil rose above $95 a barrel Tuesday, supported by gains on global stock markets.

By midday in New York, benchmark oil for July delivery was up $1.24 to $95.40 a barrel. The contract fell 10 cents on Friday. Monday was a holiday in the U.S.

Tuesday’s rise was set to break a four-day streak of losses for oil prices on the Nymex.

Positive signs for the U.S. economy helped. U.S. home prices rose the most in seven years and consumer confidence reached a five-year high. U.S. stock markets posted increases of more than 1 percent by midday. European and Asian markets closed higher earlier.

Oil’s gains could be fleeting if recent concerns about demand resurface. China, which has seen a decline in manufacturing activity, releases data on factory production later this week. In the U.S., demand for gasoline has been weaker compared with last year. And bad weather in some regions over the Memorial Day weekend may have kept drivers closer to home, wrote Phil Flynn, senior market analyst at The PRICE Futures Group, in a daily newsletter.

The average price for a gallon of gas fell over the long weekend, by 2 cents to $3.63. That’s a penny less than last year.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, was up $1.70 to $104.35 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

_ Wholesale gasoline rose 3 cents to $2.87 a gallon.

_ Heating oil climbed 6 cents to $2.91 per gallon.

_ Natural gas shed 3 cents to $4.21 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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The price of oil fell Monday as traders concerned about global energy demand took profits ahead of economic data from China and the United States.

Benchmark oil for July delivery was down 58 cents to $93.67 per barrel at midday Bangkok time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 10 cents to $94.15 a barrel on Friday.

Analysts said traders took profits before May unemployment data is released Tuesday in Washington, which should help clarify the state of the recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

“We’re starting to build confidence in the economic data, but that’s not going to stop anyone from taking money off the table ahead of a long weekend,” Carl Larry of Oil Outlooks and Opinions said in a market commentary, referring to the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. on Monday.

The global economic picture was clouded last week by a private survey showing weak Chinese manufacturing. That raised questions about the strength of oil demand in the world’s No. 2 economy.

Qinwei Wang, an economist with Capital Economics, said in a market commentary that recent Chinese indicators suggest that “general economic conditions remain downbeat.” The more closely watched official manufacturing survey is due Saturday, Wang said.

Brent crude, a benchmark for many international oil varieties, fell 12 cents to $102.46 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

_ Wholesale gasoline fell 0.1 cent to $2.817 a gallon.

_ Heating oil fell 0.6 cent to $2.851 a gallon.

_ Natural gas fell 4.6 cents to $4.215 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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The man arrested in connection with the disappearance of Hamilton’s Timothy Bosma is the heir to an Ontario aviation dynasty and once held the world record for the youngest solo helicopter flight.

Dellen Millard, 27, of Toronto, was arrested and charged in Mississauga in connection with Bosma’s disappearance Saturday morning. His family founded and ran Millard Air, a charter airline that once flew out of Toronto and has operations in Waterloo Region, where Hamilton police were seen investigating Saturday at Millard Air’s hangar at the airport.

Bosma disappeared in Hamilton Monday when he took two men for a test drive of a pickup truck he was trying to sell online. Police have since been searching for two suspects, one of whom was described as having a tattoo on his wrist that reads “ambition.”

Millard, who police believe was driving the pickup truck during the incident, has such a tattoo, police said. Millard was arrested on Cawthra Rd. in Mississauga Saturday morning without incident. He was charged with forcible confinement and theft over $5,000.

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“Tim Bosma has not been located and our greatest priority is the welfare and locating of (him),” Hamilton Police Supt. Dan Kinsella said during a media briefing Saturday afternoon.

The remaining suspect is still at large. Police in three cities — Toronto, Waterloo and Hamilton — are participating in the investigation.

Toronto police blocked off Maple Gate Crt. in Etobicoke Saturday afternoon to investigate a house connected to the arrest of Millard. Hamilton police were seen at Millard Air Hangar 53 at the Waterloo Regional Airport the same day.

The Millard family has a storied history in Ontario’s aviation industry. Dellen’s grandfather, Carl, founded the private commercial airline, the Star reported in 1999.

Wayne Millard, Dellen’s father, took the reins on a 50,000-square-foot aircraft maintenance facility in Waterloo, according to Canadian Skies, an aviation trade publication.

Wayne died in late 2012. His obituary, published in the Star, was written by Dellen and praises Wayne’s love for animals and commitment to flying.

In 1999, Dellen became the youngest person to fly a helicopter solo at 14 years old, setting a world record and earning a free breakfast from the Brampton Flying Club. He set another record by taking his first solo flight in a Cessna 172, making him the youngest to fly both a helicopter and fixed-wing plane solo in one day.

“It was a great flight,” he told the Star then, moments after landing the Cessna and receiving applause from family members. “It went by a lot faster than I thought it would.”

The Brampton Flying Club refused to comment Saturday, telling the Star a manager would be available Monday.

“I really thought he turned out fine and I’d see him someday at an airline,” said Marilyn Daigle, Dellen’s flight instructor in 1999, who’s now a commercial pilot in Toronto. “He was sweet, smart, really lovely to teach . . . I just hope it doesn’t end up being true.”

Dellen Millard’s passion for planes seems to have been grounded later in life, as he turned his attention towards automobiles. He and a friend are listed as drivers in the 2009 Baja 1000, an off-road race in Mexico, according to the race roster.

Facebook photos of Dellen posted on the friend’s account show him working on vehicles in what appears to be an airport hangar. Calls to the friend’s home were not returned.

The other suspect, still at large, is described as white, between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-10, with a small to medium build, dark hair. He was last seen wearing a red-hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head.

“It is critical that we inform you of (Dellen Millard’s) arrest, however it is much more important that we continue to pursue every evidentiary lead,” Kinsella said Saturday.

On Friday, police announced they recovered Bosma’s cellphone in an industrial complex in Brantford, which is the direction he was last believed to be heading with the men.

Police believe his vehicle was in the area of downtown Brantford around 10:10 p.m. Monday, May 6. They are asking business owners with surveillance cameras to review their footage between 9:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. that day.

Bosma’s Dodge Ram, which has not been recovered, is described as black with an Ontario licence plate number 726 7ZW.

Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Hamilton police’s dedicated tip line at 905-546-2100.

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The European Central Bank said low inflation in the 17-nation euro area allowed policy makers to cut interest rates last week, as economists lowered forecasts for consumer prices and economic growth.

The decision was

It was a surprising recall and an unlikely major-league start for Ricky Romero on Friday at the Rogers Centre. It wasn’t supposed to be this soon. The Jays’ 28-year-old lefthander remains a work in progress, with a single minor-league start under his belt on the way to his necessary rebuild. But the club decided he was ready to begin the next segment of his career. Romero’s results were mixed.

Facing the Mariners, replacing a disabled Josh Johnson, he lasted just four innings in a 4-0 loss facing the M’s ace, Felix Hernandez. After three shutout innings, looking re-energized and confident, Romero went back out and threw 37 pitches in the fourth, with two visits by a trainer — one for what may have been a blister and the other when his left arm was in the way on a hard comebacker by Jesus Montero. But the best news, the news that matters most to Romero at this point, is that he’s back.

The Jays have avoided any comparisons to the past, the Roy Halladay rebuild, for the obvious reason of not putting pressure on their current down, but not out, still improving starter. But the relationship between the reconstructing Romero and his current minor-league instructor, Dane Johnson, bears a striking similarity to that of their former star, Halladay, and his mentor, the late Mel Queen.

Nobody is suggesting that Romero will ever bounce back to match Halladay’s career numbers — the very comparison the Jays are trying to avoid — but the most important thing for the L.A.-born lefty’s rebuilt psyche is that he’s back in the majors with a new outlook and a new delivery.

The 50-year-old Johnson has been the organization’s minor-league roving instructor since 2004. On March 27, the day after Romero was given the devastating news of his demotion following another failed spring training start vs. the Pirates, Johnson, a second-round pick by the Jays in 1984, was handed the important assignment of fixing what was broken with the two-time opening day starter.

Every day in April, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, in addition to his normal duties seeing kid pitchers at the Jays’ extended spring camp, Johnson and Romero worked alone. Much has been made of several publicized Romero fixes — a more direct line to the plate and hands that never are raised above his head anymore — but there were other factors as important, many involving routine.

“Taking a step back and breaking down throwing programs,” Johnson said of the most difficult part of the rebuild. “Breaking down where the ball should come from, how he’s going to cross the T’s and dot the I’s in his throwing programs and how he was going to work around all the things that needed to be implemented in his delivery online payday loans.

“They came pretty quick, because No. 1 he’s a smart guy. No. 2 he’s a good athlete. No. 3 he’s a pro and when he realized himself that, ‘Hey, I do have to do these things to be able to be effective and throw strikes,’ it started the flow a little bit. He saw the progress. We had little victories along the way. He saw the results and took them into his games and he repeated it and he reaped the benefits of it.”

A lot of the change and the ability to convince Romero of the need for the change came in the video room, finding old video as a kid pro, comparing it to the success of 2011 and the failure of 2012.

“I went back to 2005-06,” Johnson explained. “I broke out the analog equipment. We got those tapes, not necessarily implementing them, we saw an explosive young kid at that particular time who got out over his front side and drove the ball with real great extension.

“That reminded him of a lot of things when he got into his throwing programs of what he could do, what he has to do. Again, it was more attention to detail on his throwing programs, on his (bullpen) sides, on his deliveries, paying attention to those. The focus now seems taken off the mound and going to home plate. Hopefully he has enough reps under his belt doing the things properly, technique-wise, mechanical-wise where he can worry about the hitter and what’s going on at home plate.”

Thus it was that a more confident Ricky Romero strolled with J.P. Arencibia from the bullpen to the dugout after the anthems had been played and then moments later headed out to the mound with a renewed confidence in what he could accomplish against major-league hitters — if he threw strikes.

“The first inning is going to be huge, the first hitter is going to be huge,” Johnson predicted. “Hopefully those go well and we’ll roll from there and I think you’ll see, if that continues to roll, I think you’ll see the guy getting back on the mound and working with good tempo and repeat his pitches.”

Romero’s first was a confidence boost. He retired Canadian leadoff man Michael Saunders on a 3-1 grounder to second base, allowed a line drive single to Kyle Seager, then had Kendrys Morales roll over on a grounder to short for an inning-ending double play. In his mind, he was back.

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The dollar was 0.4 percent from a two- week low against the yen on speculation the Federal Reserve will affirm its bond-buying program to cap borrowing costs when it announces its policy decision today.

The U.S. currency also traded near the least in almost two weeks versus the euro before a report that economists said will show America