Apple’s drop shows price of popularity

MARKETWATCH FRONT PAGE

What investment lesson are you drawing from Apple�s breathtaking plunge over the last couple of months? The one that Mark Hulbert thinks is most important is a contrarian one: To find your prince, you need to be willing to kiss a frog. See full story.

The $2,400 winter jacket

Big Spender: The $2,400 Cortin men�s down jacket from German skiwear specialist Bogner is billed as a �sophisticated� and �casually cool� jacket. But is it worth the price tag? See full story.

Grinch steals Hasbro�s holiday sales

The Grinch steals the No. 2 toymakers holiday season, leading Hasbro to miss its targets for both fourth-quarter sales and full-year profit. See full story.

12 sectors where you can get rich, save the Earth

You tell us: Where should investors put their money to �make a difference?� See full story.

Housing market�s latest obstacle: Appraisals

What�s that $1 million house really worth? Depends who you ask. To determine the value of a property, appraisers are supposed to review purchase prices of similar, nearby homes that sold in the past six months. But when a property is much pricier than others in the neighborhood, it can be hard to find similar examples close by. As a result, their asking prices are often out of whack with values that are later determined by appraisals. See full story.

MARKETWATCH PERSONAL FINANCE

The housing market got some short-term bad news today, with the Commerce Department reporting that home sales in December fell 7.3% from the previous month. But housing analysts who are looking past that headline see a lot of reason for optimism in some more positive long-range trends. See full story.