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Some banks and other financial companies are expected to start repaying government bailout funds next week.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama is scheduled to discuss reforms of the U.S. financial system.

Big-box electronics retailer Best Buy Co. (BBY) and shipping giant Fed Ex Corp. (FDX) are among the companies reporting quarterly results next week. And the government will release the latest inflation numbers.

 
   Banks To Start Repaying TARP Funds 
 

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS) and American Express Co. (AXP) are among the companies expected to repay the funds they received from the Troubled Asset Relief Program Wednesday. It follows the Treasury Department's move this week to grant permission to 10 of the nation's largest financial institutions to repay $68 billion in government-bailout cash.

 
   Obama To Suggest Financial Reforms 
 

Obama is scheduled to outline his plan for financial reforms Wednesday. The White House and Treasury Department have spent months crafting an overhaul of financial-market rules, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair to discuss the effort.

Administration officials had suggested they might push for major regulatory consolidation in the wake of the financial crisis. But now they expect to call for most existing agencies to have broader powers to limit risk-taking by financial institutions, say people familiar with the planning.

 
   Best Buy, FedEx To Report Results 
 

Best Buy, Fed Ex and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) are among the few companies posting quarterly results next week. Best Buy, the biggest consumer appliance retailer in the U.S. by sales, is likely to benefit from the liquidation of rival Circuit City Stores Inc. (CCTYQ) this spring. Best Buy reports Tuesday.

FedEx, which is due a day later, plans to post about $1.2 billion in fiscal fourth-quarter charges, including a $900 million goodwill write-down. The economic bellwether has seen lower volumes amid the recession. RIM offered better-than-expected guidance for its fiscal first quarter when it reported fourth-quarter results in April.

Other companies posting results are software maker Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) and meat producer Smithfield Foods Inc. (SFD), both Tuesday, and home-furnishings retailer Pier 1 Imports Inc. (PIR) on Thursday.

 
   Inflation Expected To Remain Low 
 

Government reports next week are likely to show low inflation levels in May. The Producer Price Index, which measures prices of wholesale goods, is due Tuesday and the Consumer Price Index a day later. The PPI is expected to rise 0.4% from April, while the CPI, which measures prices of certain goods and services purchased by consumers, is seen increasing 0.2%.

On Tuesday, the Commerce Department's report on housing starts and building permits is expected to show modest growth in May, after both numbers set record lows in April. The National Association of Realtors also issues its June housing market index Monday.

The government reports on May industrial production Tuesday, and the private Conference Board releases its May index of leading economic indicators Thursday. Regional manufacturing activity in June will be detailed Monday in the New York Empire Manufacturing Index and Thursday by the Philadelphia Fed.

Among appearances by Federal Reserve officials: Chicago Fed President Charles Evans speaks Monday in Chicago.

 
   AIG, Ex-CEO Go To Court Over Shares 
 

American International Group Inc. (AIG) and an investment firm led by former Chief Executive Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg are due in court Monday. AIG and Starr International Co. are battling for control of more than $4.3 billion of shares Starr holds in the insurance giant, as well as the tens of millions it sold in recent years. AIG said that if it prevails, any cash won would be used to help repay money the company owes to the federal government, which rescued it from the brink of bankruptcy in September.

 
   Tobacco Patent Case Goes To Jury 
 

A high-stakes patent-infringement case that goes to a federal jury in Baltimore next week could boost aspiring tobacco company Star Scientific Inc. (STSI). Star sued R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., a unit of Reynolds American Inc. (RAI), alleging the nation's second-biggest tobacco company encouraged its tobacco farmers to use a method of curing tobacco that Star says it invented and that prevents the formation of certain cancer-causing toxins. RJR says it didn't infringe the Star patents, and it believes the patents are invalid. Star is seeking several hundred million dollars in damages and hopes a court win could lead to lucrative licensing agreements with other tobacco companies.

 
   G8 Finance Ministers To Focus On Debt 
 

New initiatives aren't expected at a meeting of finance ministers from the world's eight largest industrialized countries through Saturday in Italy. The Group of Eight officials, who are expected to stop short of declaring an economic recovery to be under way, will focus on how to best reassure bond investors that government debt will be cut when their economies start growing again. The ministers also will discuss the state of the global banking system, which continues to be a source of concern.

 
   Obama To Discuss Reforms At AMA Meeting 
 

Intensifying his push for a revamp of the U.S. health-care system, Obama will address the American Medical Association's annual meeting Monday in Chicago. He is expected to outline the case for reform, discuss the reasons past efforts failed and detail the consequences of failing again this year.

 
   FCC Chair Nominee Up For Confirmation 
 

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a confirmation hearing Tuesday for Obama's nominee to chair the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski. Robert McDowell, Obama's choice to fill a Republican slot on the FCC, will join Genachowski for questions at the hearing. Genachowski's and McDowell's nominations are expected to proceed through the Senate as a pair. People familiar with the plan say the goal is to confirm both men before the Senate breaks for a July 4 recess.

 
   Orders To Be Slow At Paris Air Show 
 

With airlines and governments struggling to stay solvent, the Paris Air Show next week could be as depressing as the air show in 2002 that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. Industry observers say the order tally for civil aerospace and defense equipment is likely to be low at the world's biggest aviation industry gathering. With oil prices half what they were a year earlier, airlines are pulling back on investment to conserve cash or are hamstrung because they can't obtain financing. And nearly all are shedding capacity to adapt to dwindling passenger and cargo traffic.

 
   Conferences 
 

Among the significant conferences next week are the Barclays Capital Leveraged Finance Consumer Conference on Tuesday and Wednesday in New York, Jefferies & Co. Healthcare Conference from Tuesday through Thursday in New York, and Fox-Pitt, Kelton Small & Mid-Cap Bank and Insurance Conference on Wednesday and Thursday in New York.

-By Kathy Shwiff and John Kell, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; kathy.shwiff@dowjones.com

(Dow Jones Newswires staff contributed to this report.)