"The city wants something more substantial than a 33-acre lake," Peter Vargas, then-director of the city's Trinity project, said in 1998. "People would assume that was all we would do."

Credit Suisse, the U.K.'s Barclays Bank, UBS, and HSBC, all Europe-based banks, have cut several thousand jobs each globally, but their Asian offices have been spared the worst of the culling, and some are still hiring in Asia.

Nevertheless it is the lowest unemployment rate since September 2008.

Japan's Nikkei 225 plunged as much as 6.2 percent, reentering bear territory - which is defined as a 20 percent decline from a recent high. Australia's , meantime, fell over 1 percent, hitting a five-and-a-half month low.

Graham said, regardless of Petraeus' resignation, it is "essential" that he testify before Congress in a series of hearings scheduled this week. "I don't see how in the world you can find out what happened in Benghazi before, during, and after the attack if General Petraeus doesn't testify."