Tariff Tensions and Student Debt Shake Markets: Bitcoin Holds Steady

Today's trading session is all about tariffs, with retail giants Walmart and Home Depot dropping some serious bombshells on how these taxes are hitting their bottom lines.

The U.S. markets are still reeling, trying to figure out how these tariffs are affecting the average Joe. On Tuesday, May 20, the Dow Jones was hanging at 42,679.23, down 112.84 points or a gut-wrenching 0.26%. The S&P 500 wasn't faring much better at 5,942.07, down 0.36%, and the Nasdaq was at 21,353, down a solid 0.44%.

Hot on the heels of Walmart warning about potential price hikes because of those pesky U.S. tariffs, Home Depot threw us a curveball. In their first-quarter 2025 earnings report, the home improvement behemoth said they're keeping prices steady. Instead of jacking up costs, they're moving production away from China, which is getting slammed with a 30% tariff rate.

But don't pop the champagne yet—Home Depot's move might not be enough to turn the tide. Wall Street bigwigs are still sounding the alarm about the wider economic fallout from the student loan collection restart.

Student Debt, Consumer Sentiment Rattles Wall Street

The Department of Education, under Donald Trump's watch, has kicked off collections on student loans that were on pause for five years. This hits hard for those in default, who could now see their wages garnished.

JPMorgan crunched the numbers and estimated that these collections could knock disposable personal income down by a whopping $3.1 billion to $8.5 billion. Bank of America's Mihir Bhatia pointed out that it's the low-end consumers who are going to feel the brunt of this new policy.

With all this going down, May's preliminary consumer sentiment index has tanked to the second-lowest level ever recorded. The index, which gauges how willing folks are to open their wallets, plummeted to 50.8—the lowest since June 2022.

Despite the gloom and doom on Wall Street and Main Street, Bitcoin (BTC) is holding its ground, trading at $106,323 and up 0.98% in the last 24 hours. And get this—gold is absolutely shining, up 1.78% to $3,287 per ounce.