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Ah, amid the sucker punches, elbows, spears and crosschecks, there is dewy-eyed, supermarket-tabloid romance in hockey, after all.

Besides a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Rangers and Devils are playing for the trophy donated by the royal who later stepped down as King of England to become Wallis Simpson’s third husband in the Romance of the (20th) Century.

Eastern Conference champs often treat the Prince of Wales Trophy as a jinx, refusing to touch or hoist it because they haven’t yet won the Stanley Cup.

The trophy that Bill Daly will wheel out, probably to be disdained by the winner of the Battle of the Hudson in the coming week, was donated to the NHL in 1925 by Edward David, the Prince of Wales, who would become King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom in January 1936.

Edward VIII abdicated the British throne in December 1936 to marry Simpson, an American divorcee.

As Prince of Wales, he represented his father, King George V, on foreign tours. He bought an Alberta ranch in 1919 during a tour of Canada.

The NHL guide says His Royal Highness donated the trophy to the NHL in 1925 and that it was originally awarded to the winner of the first game in Madison Square Garden on Dec. 15, 1925, when the Canadiens beat the fledgling New York Americans (no Rangers yet) 3-1. The Canadiens, who then engraved their 1924 Stanley Cup victory on the Prince of Wales Trophy, lost the Stanley Cup to Victoria of the Western Canada Hockey League in 1925.

The Prince of Wales Trophy was then awarded to the NHL’s playoff champs from 1925-26 through 1926-27, while the Stanley Cup was still being contested with the Western league. From 1927-28 through 1937-38, it was awarded to the regular season winner of the NHL’s American Division with the O’Brien Trophy going to the Canadian Division champ. From 1938-39 until 1966-67, it went to the regular-season champ of the one-division league.

After expansion, it went to the Eastern Division regular-season champ through 1973-74, when it was given to the regular-season winner of the re-named Prince of Wales (East) Conference through 1980-81. From 1981-82 through 1992-93, it was presented to the Wales (East) Conference playoff champ and since to the Eastern Conference playoff champ.

Amid these varied formats, the Rangers won the Prince of Wales Trophy in 1932, 1942 and 1994. The Devils won in 1995, 2000, 2001 and 2003. The Islanders won it in 1982, 1983 and 1984.

mark.everson@nypost.com

NHL, Wallis Simpson, Prince of Wales Trophy, Prince of Wales, Stanley Cup, Rangers, Western Canada Hockey League, Stanley Cup Finals, NHL’s American Division, the Prince of Wales

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Steve Cuozzo

REALTY CHECK

Related Cos.’ game-changing, first office tower at Hudson Yards will start to rise with this autumn’s harvest moon — and with more of the 1.7 million-square-foot tower spoken for than has been announced.

Luxury leather maker Coach has quietly added 150,000 square feet to the previously reported 600,000 feet it’s buying as an office condominium at the rail yard site, sources revealed.

Coach also has an expansion option for an additional 100,000 feet, which would make the 46-story tower half full when it opens in 2015. (The project was previously reported as 51 stories — we don’t know where the five other floors went.)

SHARP LOOK: New image, looking east, shows the base of Related’s first Hudson Yards tower, newhome for Coach Inc., with the extended High Line Park nearly touching it.

Until recently, it would have seemed unthinkable for a glamour brand to consolidate its headquarters west of 10th Avenue. But Coach was a logical name to break the ice — it’s long occupied three nearby addresses on West 33rd and 34th streets, and the yard site soon to be controlled by Related is just a stroll around the block.

Insiders said Related expects to start construction in October following completion of two milestone transactions. The developer led by Stephen M. Ross expects to close on the purchase of a 99-year ground lease with the MTA for $1 billion in September, followed by the sale of office floors to Coach in October.

Although terms of the sale to Coach will become public record, they have not yet been disclosed. Related won’t say how much Hudson Yards’ so-called South Tower for Coach will cost other than to estimate its “total development cost” at over $1 billion.

The Related-Coach contract is now down to “paper details — they’ve signed off on the final design and the budget,” a source said.

Hudson Yards was in the dreaming and planning stages even before we first reported Related’s talks with Coach in November 2010.

Ross himself fueled some uncertainty over the site when he over-enthusiastically said in early 2011 that he expected to have 3 million square feet leased or sold by that year’s end.

It didn’t happen. But the Coach tower, at the corner of 10th Avenue and West 30th Street, is itching to rise.

The peak-roofed structure designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox is notable in other ways than merely marking the start of the 26-acre Hudson Yards, which is to have 21 million square feet of commercial, residential, retail and public space on the site bounded by 10th and 12th avenues and West 30th and 33rd streets.

For one thing, an engineering source said Related is “seriously looking” at building the tower frame of reinforced concrete, not steel — common in construction elsewhere, but rare in New York.

Related is said to be studying “efficiencies” including costs and speed. Concrete allows a tower to go up faster, and Coach needs its new home in 2015, when its leases at other buildings expire.

Neither a spokesperson for Related nor the broker for Coach, CB Richard Ellis’ Mary Ann Tighe, would comment. Neither would CBRE’s Bob Alexander, who with Rob Stillman is Related’s leasing agent for the tower. However, Alexander was willing to discuss the prospects for the space available there beyond Coach.

When we noted that it would bring a batch of newly minted floors to market just around the time when new space would also be available at the World Trade Center, Alexander said: “The economics of it are as competitive as at any existing class-A Midtown office building. It will be priced roughly the same, and will actually be more economic than the top five availabilities in Midtown” due to the Coach tower’s great efficiencies resulting from its design and amenities.

For example, Alexander said, 399 Park Ave. — a 50-year-old building — “is getting $100 a square foot, and we’re not at $100 a foot” if a tenant prefers to lease rather than buy its space.

Ross has previously said Related will offer Hudson Yards’ office towers to users “at cost” and make a profit on the apartment buildings to come later.

Related and its Hudson Yards financial partner, Oxford Properties Group , have also agreed to pay 30 percent of the estimated $90 million cost to construct the final section of the High Line Park.

scuozzo@nypost.com

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Last month, NBA commissioner David Stern said preseason games will be staged in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Beijing this October.

Despite Jeremy Lin’s friendship with Shanghai Sharks owner Yao Ming, the Knicks will not be selected as one of the teams playing in China, The Post has learned.

Indications are the Knicks, if they re-sign Lin as expected, are being saved for a preseason bonanza in 2013, when the NBA could visit Taiwan. Lin’s parents are of Taiwanese descent. Lin is the first NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent. The Knicks may return to Saratoga for training camp this fall.

Lin will visit China and Taiwan this summer and conduct basketball camps there, according to his agent, Roger Montgomery.

marc.berman@nypost.com

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TORONTO — Except for the 500 meters worth of home runs he allowed last night, Jon Niese had a good game, eh?

Translated from Canadian into American English: Niese surrendered nearly a half-mile of homers and was a complete disaster for the Mets.

“It was just a rough one,” Niese said after the Blue Jays hit four home runs against him and the bullpen allowed another in a 14-5 demolition of the Mets at Rogers Centre. “It seemed like every pitch I threw that they hit they just barreled it up and got it up.”

It turned so ugly, Mets catcher Rob Johnson was summoned to pitch the eighth inning. Relying on a fastball, cutter and curve, Johnson pitched a perfect inning that included a strikeout of Eric Thames.

Reuters

WOE, CANADA: A disconsolate Jon Niese walks off the mound after serving up a third-inning homer to Rajai Davis in the Mets’ 14-5 loss to the Blue Jays last night.

But Johnson isn’t scheduled to pitch again in four days. Niese (2-2) is another story, as the Mets attempt to find a reason for the lefty’s struggles in the early innings. Last night was Niese’s third start in his last four in which he allowed runs in the first and second innings. He departed after the third with the Mets trailing 8-1.

METS BOX SCORE

“A guy with his kind of stuff, to have as many problems as he’s shown lately early in the innings, I don’t know why,” manager Terry Collins said. “They are just squaring him up way too easily.”

The Blue Jays made it a complete laugher in the middle innings. Rajai Davis’ second homer of the game, a two-run shot in the fifth off Manny Acosta, gave Toronto a 10-1 lead. In the sixth, Acosta and Ramon Ramirez combined to allow four more runs.

Niese’s worst start of the season was complete after he allowed eight earned runs on eight hits over three innings. Chris Capuano was the last Mets pitcher to allow four homers in a game, when the lefty surrendered that many against the Yankees on May 21 last year.

“I thought my stuff was all right today,” Niese said. “But I gave up four home runs, and I’ve never done that before. It just kind of all happened at once. It seemed that way.”

Robert Carson made his major league debut for the Mets, pitching a scoreless seventh inning behind the carnage left by Niese, Acosta and Ramirez.

The Mets (21-18) managed just three hits against Toronto starter Ricky Romero over six innings. Scott Hairston’s three-run homer in the eighth accounted for most of the Mets’ offense.

Davis’ two-run blast in the third was Niese’s final indignity of the night. J.P. Arencibia’s second homer of the game, a blast leading off the inning, had increased the Mets’ deficit to 6-1.

“I’ve just got to keep these games to a minimum,” Niese said. “I’ve got to flush it and move on.”

Arencibia’s three-run homer in the first put the Mets in an immediate hole. Niese appeared ready to escape the inning, after striking out Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, before Arencibia homered over the left field fence.

“Just because you get through Bautista and Encarnacion doesn’t mean the rest of these guys can’t do damage,” Collins said. “You look at our recent games, the six, seven, eight hitters, they are killing us.”

Yan Gomes homered leading off the second, and the Blue Jays added a run later in the inning on Bautista’s RBI single.

“I’ve got to put it behind me,” Niese said. “You can’t get [ticked]. You’ve got to tip your cap and move on.”

mpuma@nypost.com

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Even without its top two pitchers, Beacon’s reign atop Manhattan A West continued.

Lukas Marble had three RBIs, Dylan Long and Caleb Kerbs each scored twice and Nikolai Grumet had two hits and an RBI as Beacon blanked rival Stuyvesant, 5-0, to clinch the PSAL Manhattan A West crown.

Matt Aronowitz fanned four in four shutout innings and Dylan Long went the final three for the Blue Demons (12-3), who have been without injured pitchers Kai Glick and Juan Adorno most of the year. Stuyvesant falls to 10-5.

Telecommunications 8, New Utrecht 1: Anthony Nunez went the distance in a five-hitter and struck out six, Wayne Roberts Jr. had two RBIs, Josh Mercado contributed two hits and two RBIs and Josh Palacios had three hits, scored once and drove in a run for Telecom, which clinched the Brooklyn A West crown. New Utrecht is 10-5.

Lauren Marsh

Dylan Long and Beacon clinched their ninth straight Manhattan A West crown with Thursday's 5-0 shutout of Stuyvesant.

John Adams 8, William Bryant 1: Anderson DeLeon struck out nine in a complete-game effort for his sixth win, Shawn Jimenez had three hits, an RBI and scored two runs and Jeffrey Valera followed with three hits, an RBI and a run scored for Adams (14-1) in Queens A West. Bryant is now 10-5.

Cardozo 5, Bayside 0: Keith Rogers scored twice and struck out 11 in six shutout innings of work, Connor Doyle added two hits, two RBIs and scored two runs and Nicanor Luna had two hits for Cardozo (15-0) in Queens A East. Bayside is now 6-9.

DeWitt Clinton 5, Evander Childs 1: Raniel Guzman had two hits, scored twice and notched an RBI, Jordan Aquino scored twice and Johan Ortiz Franco doubled and knocked in two runs for Clinton (9-6) in Bronx A East. Evander Childs is 2-14 in Bronx A West.

Richmond Hill 5, Lane 0: Eliezer Estrella fanned 14 in a three-hit shutout for Richmond Hill (3-12) in Queens A West. Lane is 4-11.

Newtown 10, Long Island City 0: Jose Martinez had two hits, scored twice and drove in three runs, Matt Payero and Chris Moreno each had two RBIs and Jonathan Guzman allowed just two hits and struck out five in six shutout innings for Newtown (12-4), which finishes second in Queens A West. LIC ends the regular season at 8-8.

New Dorp 15, Petrides 3: Tyler Warshefskie had four hits and three RBIs, Darius Ramos and Charlie Cabranes each scored three runs and Gary Andersen added three RBIs for New Dorp (12-6) in Staten Island A. Petrides ends the year at 3-15.

Curtis 2, Susan Wagner 1: Michael Piccirillo struck out two and scattered four hits in a complete-game performance for his third league win, Chris Moran doubled twice and scored a run and Piccirillo and Matt Silberman each drove in a run for Curtis, which finishes the regular season at 10-8 in Staten Island A. Wagner falls to 7-11.

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Manhattan A West, shutout innings, Wayne Roberts Jr., Queens A West, New Utrecht, Dylan Long, Josh Mercado, Nikolai Grumet, Josh Palacios, Anthony Nunez, Evander Childs, Stuyvesant, Juan Adorno, William Bryant, Jeffrey Valera, RBIs, Matt Payero

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Staten Island has a new first-place team.

Shea Spitzbarth gave up two earned runs on six hits with eight strikeouts to lead Moore Catholic to a 5-3 win over St. Joseph by the Sea in CHSAA Staten Island ‘AA’ baseball Monday in Huguenot.

Joe Todaro and Chris Goetz each had two RBIs and John Baggs clocked a home run for Moore (11-1), which takes over first place heading into a game with Monsignor Farrell on Tuesday and a rematch with St. Joseph by the Sea on Wednesday. The Mavericks control their own destiny and with two victories they’ll win the division title.

Joe Santigate and Mike Leone each had RBIs for Sea (11-2), which has now lost two of its last three games. Liam Vogt started and gave up five runs on 10 hits in seven innings.

Iona Prep 7, Archbishop Stepinac 6: Christian Berg had two RBIs and Cody Polchinski, Vinny DeMaria, Mike Briganti and Dan Fischer all had two hits apiece for Iona (11-5). Vinny Martin got the win with two scoreless innings of relief and Tim McCarthy gave up one run on three hits with six strikeouts in four innings. James Decker had two RBIs for Stepinac (7-9).

Cardinal Spellman 15, Mount St. Michael 2: Jason Polgano had two hits and an RBI and only gave up two runs on five hits pitching in his first game up from the JV for Spellman (8-8). John Russo had a bases-clearing double and Steve Rodriguez added a big RBI hit. Mount is 1-13.

St. Francis Prep 2, St. Edmund Prep 1 (8 innings): Justin Teitelbaum gave up just one run on two hits with five strikeouts in eight innings to lead SFP (10-4). Steve Pelan had two hits and scored the winning run on Bobby Perretti’s walk-off single. St. Edmund is 2-13.

Archbishop Molloy 2, Holy Cross 1: Mike Rogers drove in the tying run in the sixth and Jamal Waire plated the winning run in the top of the seventh for Molloy (9-6). Donovan Armas gave up just one run on three hits with seven strikeouts and John Sideris and Jonathan Ramon, making his season debut, each had a hit. Cross is 7-7.

Monsignor Farrell 7, St. Peter’s 0: Peter Kennedy and Nick Festa had two RBIs apiece to lead Farrell (6-8), which clinched a playoff spot with the victory. Kevin Garzone gave up no runs on four hits and four walks and struck out six in six innings. St. Peter’s finishes its season 4-9 and will miss the playoffs.

Bishop Ford 5, Christ the King 4: Matt Chavez went 3-for-4 and drove in Will Garces for the game-winning run with a triple for Ford (10-6). Helbert Estevez gave up no runs on one hit with six strikeouts in four innings of relief to pick up the victory. Danny Arroyo and Garces both tripled and scored in a three-run fifth. CK is 2-14.

Regis 4, Xavier 3: Aidan Hone gave up no earned runs on two hits in 4-1/3 innings in his first varsity start to pick up the win at MCU Park for Regis (4-10), which swept the season series against its rival. Mike Comiskey allowed no runs and just a walk with three strikeouts in 2-2/3 innings for the save and John Roque had a two-RBI single to break up a 2-all tie in the third. J.P. Ramirez started for Xavier (7-8).

CHSAA CLASS A

LaSalle 13, Sacred Heart 1: Jason Negron gave up one unearned run on two hits and two walks with eight strikeouts in five innings to lead LaSalle (5-3). Victor Rosario went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base and Josh Smith went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, a walk, two RBIs and a stolen base. Eric Hernandez was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and Danny Colon went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI. Sacred Heart is 4-4.

OTHER SCORES

Fordham Prep 13, Salesian 1

Cardinal Hayes 5, All Hallows 4

mraimondi@nypost.com

Monsignor Farrell, Moore Catholic, strikeouts, John Baggs

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Before last night’s opening salvo in the Battle of the Hudson, Rangers coach John Tortorella refused to consider the notion his players could be tired after completing a pair of grueling seven-game series victories over the Senators and Capitals.

He was just as defiant on that point after the Blueshirts dominated the third period of their 3-0 Game 1 victory over The Devils.

“I don’t know where you guys get all this stuff about being tired,” Tortorella said. “If we’re tired this time of year, there’s something the matter. We still have a month to play.

AP

NOTHING BUT NET: The Devils’ Zach Parise was the only thing that got behind Henrik Lundqvist last night in the Rangers’ 3-0 triumph in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals at the Garden.

“We’re not a tired hockey club. We’re ready to play ... this club will be ready to play.”

While the Rangers had only managed to get past the Capitals on the same Garden ice 48 hours earlier, the Devils had been off for almost a week since they finished off the Flyers in five games. It looked like that might have an impact on the game in the second period, when the Devils controlled much of the play and tried to gain the lead.

“We turned it over, and we got sloppy,” Tortorella said. “I thought we had chances to get it out, we didn’t, and teams that are playing this time of year are going to try to capitalize.”

But the Devils didn’t, and when the Rangers came out for the third period, they completely flipped the script. It started with Dan Girardi’s blast from the right side that sailed past Martin Brodeur less than a minute into the period and continued with a goal from Chris Kreider at 12:00 before Artem Anisimov finished things off with an empty-netter.

“There’s no excuse to be tired, and that doesn’t matter to us,” said Girardi. “It might be better for us to come back and play another game instead of sitting around trying to think about it.

“They came out hard and were fresh, and I thought we did a good job of trying to match their intensity. I thought we had a good third period, and got the job done.”

History is working against the Rangers, as no team has won the Stanley Cup after going the full seven games in its first two series since the playoffs expanded in 1987. But last night they overcame whatever fatigue they may have been feeling to move one game closer to changing that.

“It’s very important,” Mike Richards said of taking the early lead in the series. “Now we move on right away to Game 2.”

No rest for the weary.

tbontemps@nypost.com

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MIAMI — Jon Niese pitched six solid innings yesterday, but it was his team’s rally in the seventh that may have cost the lefty and the Mets a shot at the victory.

With the Mets leading 2-0 with runners on second and third and Niese’s spot in the order approaching, manager Terry Collins went for the knockout. Ike Davis was summoned to pinch-hit against Marlins starter Carlos Zambrano and grounded out.

Ramon Ramirez surrendered two runs to the Marlins in the bottom of the inning, tying a game the Mets lost 8-4 on Giancarlo Stanton’s walkoff grand slam.

AP

GOING TO BAT: David Wright wields a pink bat in support of moms and breast cancer research during the Mets’ Mother’s Day loss in Miami.

“I was set to go back out in the seventh,” said Niese, who threw 99 pitches. “That’s the thing about the National League, the pitcher always gets pinch-hit for.”

Niese, who was battling flulike symptoms, finished with six shutout innings in which he allowed five hits and three walks with four strikeouts.

BOX SCORE

“The body aches were kind of gone,” Niese said. “Now I’m just kind of congested, sore throat. I guess being sick usually kind of makes you focus a little more.”

* Davis was a late scratch from the starting lineup after also incurring flu-like symptoms. The first baseman said he expects to start tonight against the Brewers. Third-base coach Tim Teufel also was affected by the bug and was replaced by bench coach Bob Geren.

* David Wright went 1-for-3 and extended his hitting streak to seven games. Wright’s average is still .400. Cleon Jones (1969) is the only other player in franchise history to have batted at least .400 this deep into the season.

* Daniel Murphy, who gave the Mets a 2-0 lead with an RBI single in the fourth, has a nine-game hitting streak and is batting .447 (17-for-38) over that stretch. Murphy (2-for-3) has 15 multi-hit games this season.

* The Mets have a T-shirt promotion scheduled for tomorrow at Citi Field. With a $19 box-seat ticket in left field, fans will receive a shirt that says “Duda-ronomy” on the front and “Dudaism” on the back, referring to outfielder Lucas Duda.

mpuma@nypost.com

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MANCHESTER, England — In the final moments of the Premier League’s most dramatic season yet, Manchester City had just enough time to produce one final, stunning twist.

With the club’s title hopes fading by the second, with fans anxiously tearing at their hair in the stands as a stubborn Queens Park Rangers clung to a surprising 2-1 lead after 90 minutes, City threw all of its attacking might forward to secure one of English football’s greatest comebacks.

Edin Dzeko and Sergio Aguero both scored in injury time to clinch a 3-2 victory yesterday that secured the club’s first league title since 1968, finishing ahead of crosstown rival Manchester United on goal difference.

“It’s a crazy finish for a crazy season,” City manager Roberto Mancini said. “I’ve never seen a final like this.”

No one had.

After a season where the title race shifted back and forth between the Manchester clubs numerous times, City looked to have thrown it all away by letting 10-man QPR rally from a goal down to take the lead in the second half, while United completed a 1-0 win at Sunderland.

But Dzeko headed in an equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time to give the City fans hope, and Aguero then clinched the title when he slalomed through the QPR defense and blasted the ball into the net. As Mancini raised his hands and ran along the touchline, Aguero — the son-in-law of Diego Maradona — tore his shirt off in jubilation before he was mobbed by his teammates.

“He was crying on the floor,” City captain Vincent Kompany said. “All the guys were pouring their eyes out. You don’t see strong personalities like that showing their emotion so often.”

Moments earlier, United had completed its victory at Sunderland and were lingering on the northeast pitch ready to start celebrating title No. 20, waiting for the final result of the City game.

Instead, a party 44 years in the making burst into life back in the blue half of Manchester as fans flooded the City pitch and exploded blue smoke canisters.

“Miracles do happen in Manchester,” Kompany said. “This time it’s on this side of the road.”

Now United will have to live with the fact the club once dismissed by manager Alex Ferguson as a “noisy neighbor” is now a serious threat to its supremacy.

United had won 19 titles since City last won the English championship for just the second time in 1968.

The two Manchester rivals have traded places atop the standings all season, but City had to overturn an eight-point lead United held five weeks ago to finish on top.

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New York’s financial service sector could soon be facing catastrophic job losses far worse than the destruction from Lehman Brothers’ alarming 2008 collapse, according to a market forecaster.

The big trouble will start in Europe this year, and spread to America in a new global economic contagion, says Graham Summers, chief market strategist for Phoenix Capital Research.

The clock is already ticking. Bankers and government officials in Europe are fast losing their grip on efforts to tame runaway debt far greater than anything seen before — so much so that nothing short of the EU’s imminent collapse in its present form seems likely, Summers told The Post.

(The euro lost more than 3 percent against the dollar in the last last month.)

That, in turn, will send shock waves through the interconnected global markets, wiping out jobs wholesale — especially in major financial centers like New York.

Europe’s $46 trillion banking system, four times the size of the US’s, is dangerously leveraged at 26-to-1, near Lehman-fatal levels of 30-to-1.

One-quarter of the European Central Bank’s nearly $4 trillion balance sheet comprises the toxic debt of Spain, Ireland and other heavily indebted nations.

It’s a recipe for disaster. “It’ll be like a repeat of 2008 in reverse — but much worse because the $12 trillion US banking system is much smaller than Europe’s troubled system,” Summers said.

Of course, Wall Street is already factoring in job losses of around 3 percent this year, based on Sandler O’Neill estimates.

But firms, hammered by Europe’s gathering storm, have vowed to cut costs as a decline in deal-making and stock-trading activities has ratcheted up the pressure.

Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley are among the big names planning reductions. Bank of America has previously announced it would cut 30,000 jobs worldwide in the next few years to save $5 billion annually. Credit Suisse is planning to swing the ax, announcing 3,500 reductions by year’s end.

But none of these reductions takes account of Summers’ prediction: unprecedented financial upheaval spilling out of Europe as early as this summer. Summers has not quantified the scale of New York’s potential financial- and nonfinancial-related jobs calamity.

But the forecaster suggests it will be far worse than the wipeout from the global financial crisis in the aftermath of Lehman’s 2008 collapse. Since 2008, New York has shed 48,000 financial services jobs, an analysis by the Business Journals shows. New York City alone employs some 442,000 in financial activities.

The latest layoffs are a chilling reminder, Summers warns. “All of these guys have already been hit. Merrill is laying off people; the financial industry is firing people by the thousands,” he said. “If you don’t have a bull market, people are going to lose jobs.”

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