Thanks to a side bet, Chris owes me an ice cream sundae. You might recall his guarantee that he'd beat me this week. On our monthly rebalancing day, he picked all new stocks. I dumped three. "My picks are a little more aggressive and we're heading into earnings season, which should start to make both of our portfolios move a little more," Chris said. "Alcoa and AK Steel are both industrial-based companies which will be fueled by expected improvements in the economic backdrop." Full story »

I'm back on top. Oh, yeah. Suddenly, I'm starting to have second thoughts about the radical changes I plan to make to my portfolio next week. Full story »

The pro is finally winning -- for now. Since all of my picks took a hit, I might be ready to make some changes.  Full story »

It's a slow-moving contest, but I'm thrilled. For the first time, all my picks posted positive gains for the week, with Netflix taking the lead. Full story »

A month into this contest, our results have been flat. Still, we both decided to hang on to our picks for a while. Full story »

It makes perfect sense to me why only one of my picks increased this week while the rest fell, following a flood of bad news.  Full story »

Good job, stay-at-home movie watchers. Finally some momentum for my stock picks, thanks to Netflix. The stock jumped 23 percent in one day earlier this week following a positive quarterly earnings report. Meanwhile, Chris Johnson stands by his stocks. "It looks like the market is going to start working it's way out of negative territory." Full story »

Buy the rumor, sell the news" is the first clich that came to Chris Johnson's mind, explaining why UnitedHealth Group traded higher earlier in the week. Full story »

It's a marathon, not a sprint. That's all I have to say about my second week in this contest. Chris Johnson can gloat a little. His pick of UnitedHealth Group is among health care stocks that benefited from news that Congress is watering down the health care bill. "It's looking more like business as usual," he said. "And that's why investors are buying it again." Full story »

Our new Pro, Chris Johnson, has focused on financial research for most of his 23-year career. As the new PD player, I'm feeling good because we both picked Disney. His professional opinion: It's one of the few media companies outperforming the market. My amateur thinking: My first-grader owns a share of Disney stock, and on our three trips to Disney World, the parks were always packed. Full story »

Weekly Update: Folks pay the Pro big bucks to give them advice on how to invest their money. But for six months, he shared his insights with us for free. That market whims gave my Buckeye State stocks an edge over his stronger portfolio shouldn't detract from his credibility as a financial expert. He has been a great sport... Full story »

THE RULES: The PD and the Pro each started with $50,000 in pretend money to invest as equally as possible in full shares of five stocks. They can rebalance once a month; if they do, they must invest roughly equal amounts in each stock in their portfolios. Dividends are credited as they are paid. The contest began July 6... Full story »

The Pro's new picks reflect his optimism about the economy. He says the health care bill will help Medco, a pharmacy benefits manager. Full story »

Weekly Update: We each bet on three new stocks to close out our six-month contest. "We think the economy is on the upswing," the Pro says. He bought MasterCard to cash in on holiday spending, the same reason I bought shares of Cincinnati-based Macy's, whose new motto is "Believe." C'mon, Santa Full story »

Jo-Ann reported great earnings late Wednesday, but the needle on its stock price went the other way. "Retail sales have just been punky," says The Pro. As for his portfolio, he says that "Stocks that have done well often stop to take a breather." Next week: New stocks as we begin the last leg of our six-month race. Full story »