U.S. companies added 242,000 new jobs last month, far exceeding expectations and possibly helping to ease widespread fears of an economic slowdown. The unemployment rate remained at 4.9 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics report amounts to 72 months of uninterrupted job gains, the longest streak on record. However, wages fell 0.1 percent for February, one month after the measure showed a 0.5 percent bump.