That's because most of the past several weeks have shown that first-time claims for unemployment benefits haven't fluctuated at all — as in zero. "Initial claims for unemployment insurance are state programs, with 50 state rules, hundreds of offices, and 50 websites to file. Weather, seasonality, holidays, and economic vibrations drive the number of people filing claims from week to week," he added. Indeed, a Labor Department spokesperson noted that while the string of 212,000 prints on the jobless claims data is "uncommon," it would not be considered anomalous. The Labor Department official also pointed out that new seasonal factors to the claims data were announced a month ago.

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Persons: Jim Bianco, Tracey Ryniec, Jim Organizations: Labor Department, Bianco Research, Zacks Investment Research, Labor, Federal Reserve Locations: New York City