NEW YORK (FORTUNE) -- Okay, here we go! Two day Fed meeting begins. Yippee! Rate hike tomorrow. Come on Bernanke, show your mettle! Think different! CUT rates, instead.

KRAFT: Did you see earlier this week? The company tapped Irene Rosenfeld as its new CEO. That's a good thing. KFT (Charts), the nation's biggest food company, has been sluggish lately, facing all sorts of low-cost store brand (yuck!) competition. Former CEO, Roger Deromedi, was a finance guy and this company needs marketing muscle and Irene's got it! She helped integrate Nabisco into the company too. Rosenfeld becomes one of the top female CEOs in the country along with Patricia Woertz of Archer Daniels Midland and Brenda Barnes of Sara Lee Corp. KFT down from the mid $30s in '02 to $30ish today. Good for the long run as Don Henley would say.

CHEESECAKE FACTORY: Dateline Calabasas, CA. After the bell last night, the company (ticker CAKE, love it!) said that while it expects sales to climb 12 percent in the second quarter, its same store sales (sales at stores open for at least one year) will be "flat to negative." Uh oh! That's a big no no. Don't get me wrong. While I'm a huge fan of the food, (I love all 50 varieties of its cheesecake ... especially chocolate chip cookie dough ... Mmmm mmm), I'm not a huge fan of the stock (Charts). The weak same store sales picture points to my problem: How do you make this business grow besides opening new stores? (CAKE announced the opening of its 106th and 107th restaurants, in Cherry Hill, N.J. and Huntington Beach, CA.). Stock was a big winner in the 1990s, not so much anymore. (Read more about Cheesecake Factory here.)

CKE RESTAURANTS: Dateline Carpinteria, CA. This restaurateur runs Carl's Jr., Hardee's, La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill, and Green Burrito. About 3,160 stores. Company is unleashing a new mega-burger, a jumbo-sized cheeseburger smothered in sliced steak! What about eating healthy? "I think the health craze is happening mostly among journalists," says Andrew Puzder, CEO. True, but not this journo, bucko! Ticker , BTW, is CKR (Charts) - so don't be confused. Company says sales at stores open a year or more are up 4.7 percent in June. Nice. Company warns high gas prices may hurt it a bit, but the stock is cheap. Burgers and Mexican food always a good bet.

LOOSE CHANGE: Did you see that John Wilkes Booth's childhood home in Bel Air, Maryland is for sale? Go for it. (Very rainy in Bel Air, right now.) ... Say a prayer for Pete Gammons, good guy.... In France, it would be possible that Tom DeLay is Ken Lay's son..... Who will win World Cup? Paul Amin says France!