The daily business briefing: May 8, 2019

1. Trump tax info reportedly shows years of massive losses

President Trump reported losses totaling $1.17 billion to Internal Revenue Service from 1985 to 1994, The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing tax data obtained by reporters. "In fact, year after year," the newspaper said, "Mr. Trump appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer." Trump's losses from his core businesses — including casinos, hotels, and retail-space rentals in apartment buildings — exceeded $250 million in both 1990 and 1991, double those of the biggest losers in IRS annual samples of high-earners for those years. Trump's book, Trump: The Art of the Deal, a pillar of his image as a successful businessman, was released in the decade covered by the data. Trump lawyer Charles Harder called the Times' tax information "demonstrably false."

The New York Times

2. Stocks shaken by Trump's renewed China tariff threat

U.S. stocks plunged on Tuesday on fears of a renewed trade war between the U.S. and China as President Trump vowed to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by as much as 648 points before closing down by 473 points, or 1.8 percent. The broader S&P 500 fell by 1.7 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost 2 percent. Trump made the threat in a Sunday tweet. China said it would still send negotiators for trade talks in Washington this week. U.S. officials said Trump's threat came after Beijing sent a diplomatic cable with edits to a draft trade agreement that effectively reneged on key concessions. U.S. stock futures dropped further early Wednesday.

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3. Lyft posts big losses but reports progress

Lyft reported a loss of $9.02 per share in its first quarterly report as a public company, down from a loss of $11.40 per share a year earlier. Chief Financial Officer Brian Roberts said the ride-hailing company expected losses to peak this year as it makes progress growing its active customer base and revenue per active rider grows. Lyft shares fell by about 1 percent in after-hours trading. Alphabet on Wednesday announced its self-driving car company, Waymo, would partner with Lyft by deploying 10 autonomous vehicles on Lyft in Phoenix. Lyft and larger rival Uber face an eight-city strike Wednesday by drivers complaining of low pay and poor working conditions. The strike comes as Uber prepares for its initial public offering of stock later in the week. Lyft held its IPO in March.

CNBC The Washington Post

4. Toyota profit falls as North America sales lag

Toyota on Wednesday reported that its first-quarter profit fell by 4 percent, partly due to lagging North America sales. One reason for the sales decline in the U.S. was the absence of a tax break that boosted earnings in 2018. Japan's No. 1 automaker reported quarterly profit of $4.2 billion, a slight increase over the same period a year ago. Toyota, which makes popular Prius hybrids and Camrys, said its profit for the fiscal year ending in March 2020 should be up by 20 percent over the previous year. For the fiscal year that just ended, Toyota sold 10.6 million vehicles worldwide, up from 10.4 million the previous year. Smaller rival Honda also reported results on Wednesday, saying it lost $118 million in the first quarter.

The Associated Press

5. Hackers steal $40 million in bitcoin from Binance exchange

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance said Wednesday that hackers had stolen more than $40 million worth of bitcoin from its platform. Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, said it discovered the "large scale security breach" on Tuesday. The thieves allegedly used phishing and other hacking techniques to take 7,000 bitcoins from a single wallet, amounting to about 2 percent of total bitcoin holdings on the platform. The theft was the latest in a series of signs of cryptocurrency vulnerability, but it did not appear to have an immediate impact on the prices of digital currencies.

The Wall Street Journal MarketWatch