Financial markets face many challenges. Your boss will be giving a speech at the company's annual meeting. Hundreds of senior managers will be attending. She has tasked you with providing detailed research so that she can address these managers and answer a burning question: What is the biggest crisis facing financial markets right now?

Your boss is under pressure to do a good job. She is relying on you. In a conversation with her, she suggested two crises to consider: A possible rout in the bond market and a credit crisis in emerging markets.

Here are some ideas for your project:

• How much money has been borrowed in the energy sector by smaller companies hoping to capitalize on the oil market in the last two years?

• When will these borrowings come due?

• How much money has been borrowed in the junk bond sector?

• Which industries are the top offenders?

• Which banks/lending institutions are at greatest risk?

• How much money do the BRICS owe?

• To whom do they owe it?

• What is your best estimate of the likelihood of these funds being paid back?

• After amassing the data, which of the two crises identified by your boss is more significant? What advice or solutions might she provide in her speech?