Initial claims for U.S. state unemployment surged to their highest levelin two and half years, rising 16,000 to 375,000, the Labor Departmentreported Thursday, but indicated no immediate cause. Labor Departmentanalyst Cindy Ambler said she had "nothing indicating a particularsector or geographic region" responsible for the increase. Initial claimswere at their highest level since reaching 384,000 on July 4, 1998.Ambler noted that last week's advance figure of 333,000 was revisedupward by 26,000 to 359,000 this week, the result of an unusually largenumber of states (18) estimating data last week. Asked whether that hadan impact on last week's number, Ambler said, "Yes, unfortunately."