The first part of 2013 was generally a good one for stocks. The UK FTSE All Share index rose 9% amid renewed vigour and on the back of some positive economic signs. But not all of the data and signs were rosy. Every quarter, we take a look at some scary numbers; here are some notable ones for the most recent three-month period.
6.7%: "Tax" that was to be levied on all deposits of less than EUR 100,000 in Cypriot bank accounts under the terms on the initial bailout agreement agreed to in March. Although the bailout terms were amended to spare smaller depositors, the deal sent a wave through the global markets. Investors were fearful that the agreement would be used as a template in other peripheral countries, causing depositors to move their money to safer banks and bringing further instability to the European financial system.
1,000: Euros that can be taken off the island of Cyprus. The capital controls imposed since Cyprus' banks opened back for business are designed to keep money from fleeing and putting the country's lone major bank in even bigger trouble.
25.5%: Percentage of votes that the protest Five-Star Movement won in the Italian parliamentary elections held in February. A nearly three-way tie in the election made the creation of a coalition impossible and will likely send the country to fresh elections later this year. It also raised concerns that the country was ungovernable and would not be able to stay on the reform path.
4.6 Million: Number of long-term unemployed persons in the United States, a metric that has seen little change for some time now. People out of work for more than 27 weeks now make up nearly 40% of the unemployed.
12%: Eurozone unemployment rate. Beyond the sovereign debt woes and worries about the common currency, the European economy continues to face an employment crisis. Unemployment rates in core countries such as Germany and the Netherlands remain low, but joblessness remains an enormous problem in nations most affected by the debt crisis such as Spain.
-14%: 
Apple (AAPL) share price performance during the first quarter. The bloom kept coming off the rose in the first part of 2013 for this former darling. Quarterly results and outlooks were below expectations, a public battle over the firm's dividend-payout policy erupted, and concerns emerged that Apple is not as innovative as it once was. To be sure, the company remains in an enviable position, but the sound of inevitability that Apple will dominate all of its markets has faded.
2.27%: Dividend yield on the S&P 500 at end of March. Even though 129 companies in the index raised their dividends during the quarter, two initiated a payment, and only six made a cut, the run-up in prices has kept the total yield in the basement.
60 Million: Windows 8 licenses sold by Microsoft (MSFT) in its fiscal second quarter. That is not a horrible result, but it reflects a lack of real excitement around the new operating system and the new devices designed for it. Although it is still very early days, it isn't clear if the new release will help the firm overcome the competitive threats to Windows from cloud computing.
