17 Scary Numbers From the First Quarter

The first part of 2013 was generally a good one for stocks. The broad-based Morningstar US Market Index rose 11% on the back of policy progress in Washington, the Federal Reserve's accommodative status, and some positive economic signs. But not all of the data and signs were rosy. Every quarter, I take a look at some scary numbers that jumped out at me. 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. 

57%: Percentage of workers older than 45 that have less than $25,000 in savings (excluding homes and pensions) according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. 

49%: Percentage of workers who say they are not at all or not too confident they will be able to save enough for a comfortable retirement. 

6%: Retirees who said they retired after age 70 in 2013. 

26%: Percentage of current workers who expect to retire after 70. 

88,000: Jobs added in March. Even if the payrolls report doesn't portend a broader economic slowdown, the disappointing number underscores how far away we are from full employment and how uneven the recovery has been. 

496,000: People who left the workforce in March, allowing the unemployment rate to fall to 7.6% from 7.7%. Although some decline is expected due to demographic changes, the drop-off is another sign of that the slow and steady improvement is still a bit too slow for some workers. 

4.6 Million: Number of long-term unemployed persons, 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. 

-31.7%: Drop in same-store sales for the holiday sales period reported by  J.C. Penney in February. The retailer's turnaround by former Apple Store chief remains very much a work in progress. Consumers haven't taken well to the everyday low-pricing strategy, and the firm has been forced to  bring back coupons. Now the question is whether J.C. Penney can stem the cash burn and show that the business really can be turned around. 

81: Days since the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all of  Boeing's (BA) new 787 planes grounded after two battery fires. Boeing says it is now close to a fix, but it will likely have to compensate its customers for the delay and convince passengers the jets are safe for flying. And if the FAA decides to put restrictions on how far the planes can fly, that could reduce demand from customers that had planned long-range flights. 

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 runup 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. 

20%: The amount of women's pants that  Lululemon Athletica (LULU) had to
 remove from its stores because of unacceptable sheerness. The recall (which launched 1,000 puns on corporate transparency) raised concerns about the fast-growing yogawear firm's supply chain management and ability to keep its high-end image in the face of quality issues.