When the pandemic shut down the economy this spring, Walmart Inc. all but closed the department where Christina Rogers works as an optician. Her children’s schools closed, too. She thought she might have to dip into savings as they hunkered down in St. George, Utah.
Instead, her financial situation improved.
Though her earnings dropped when she cut back hours to look after her children, company bonuses and a federal stimulus check put extra money in her pocket. She bought stocks right before the market roared back this spring and refinanced her mortgage as interest rates plummeted.
