UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to unveil his new growth plan at the annual CBI conference Monday. Sean Corrigan from Diapason Commodities Management has analysis.

The population in the Gulf region is predicted to continue to grow by a third in the next decade, according to a study from Economist Intelligence Unit. Strong demographic growth could lead to high economic growth, Jane Kinninmont from Economist Intelligence Unit told CNBC Monday.

US unemployment is likely to bottom out in the first quarter of 2010, according to the National Association for Business Economics Monday. Kit Juckes from ECU Group considers the predictions.

Exchange traded funds have enjoyed a rapid rise in popularity over the last 18 months as institutional investors place more importance on transparency and liquidity, according to a study by Barclays Global Investors. Deborah Fuhr from Barclays Global Investors spoke to CNBC about the findings Monday.

“The biggest program and the most effective program of all the government stimulus programs has been the Chinese one,” Sean Corrigan from Diapason Commodities Management told CNBC Monday. If the Chinese government slows down its stimulus measures, “it will knock a big heavy prop out from under this Western rally,” he added.

In his ranking of 40 markets for their strength, Robin Griffiths from Cazenove Capital told CNBC Monday “the Nikkei remains resolutely in 40th position as actually the one to avoid relative to the others.” The falling highs and lows in the Nikkei 225 “basically, technically says ‘avoid’”, he said, adding that India, China, and Brazil are the best investments.

“The tone for the US market, which will set the tone for the world equity markets, really remains quite positive,” Jim McCaughan, CEO of Principal Global Investors, told CNBC Monday. Overall there is “good value” in the market, he said, adding that he would be weary of investing in commodities.

Handmade Films is set to release its newest film Planet 51 Saturday, which will have to compete with the second installment of the Twilight film series. The UK film industry is very healthy, David Ravden, CEO of Handmade Group, told CNBC.

Turkey's largest mobile phone operator, Turkcell expects sales growth to rise by 10% next year as the introduction of 3G technology will push revenues higher. "We are projecting 10% growth improvement in our EBITA margin as well," Turkcell CEO Sureyya Ciliv said Friday.

The US-China trade relationship has reached a "bit of a stalemate," according to Fabien Pictet, chairman of FPP Asset Management Friday. He sees China's consumer strength proving sustainable. He has "a huge allocation to Taiwan and Korea."

The UK's Baroness Catherine Ashton was appointed as the European Union's new foreign minister late Thursday. "I hope that the Conservatives will welcome my appointment and be proud of me as a Briton and proud of what I can do in Europe," Ashton told CNBC.

"A lot of the profits of companies that we've seen are partly artificial because governments have put in so much liquidity in the system and produced all kinds of plans," Philippe Gijsels from Fortis Global Markets said Friday. "Maybe the earnings estimates for next year are probably too optimistic." He is "wary" on the markets.

The global recovery will be partial and protracted into 2010, according to Control Risk. The consultancy firm has created a 2010 'risk map' where it analyzes the business, economic and political risk landscape for each country. Jake Stratton discusses the report's findings.

The UK government needs to focus on rebalancing the public finances, Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, told CNBC Friday. Lambert added that weakness in sterling could help restore the UK's lost manufacturing base.

The market hasn't gotten too ahead of itself. If you look at valuations measures, they appear "somewhere close to fair value," Giles Keating from Credit Suisse said Friday. "The rally has brought us back inline with some kind of neutral level," he added.

"Stocks being held hostage by the US dollar index, which is trying for a low," Bill McLaren, independent trader, told CNBC Friday. The S&P 500 is in a struggling trend that could break either higher or lower, he said.

"One of the lessons that we've learned (from the financial crisis, is) that all the banks that we thought might be too big to fail indeed are too big to fail," Willem Buiter from the London School of Economics and Political Science told CNBC Friday. "We've learned that even the worst crisis will pass," he added.

"We would like to see more mature leadership and a firmer hand, (and a) more stable environment within the EU," Bob Long, CEO of Conversus Asset Management, told CNBC after the first EU President was named Thursday.

We have significant question marks over the prospects for 2010, Yogi Dewan, founder of Hassium Asset Management, said Thursday. Investors can get good returns once they have decided what their equity exposure is relative to their bond exposure, and what their dollar exposure is relative to your base currency exposure, he added.

Colgate-Palmolive and Reckitt Benckiser "are probably some of the best managed companies in the world. And for Reckitt, this could be a very interesting deal indeed," Nick Wakefield, CIO of Orchard Wealth Management, said Thursday of reports that the two companies may link up. Wakefield has share holdings in both companies.

The start of the week brings another pair of economic stimulus packages. This time it's the governments of India and Australia that are going to find ways of pushing money into their economies in an attempt to stave off the worst effects of slowing growth.