US retailers post upbeat sales numbers

New York

ROBUST sales numbers from Walmart, Home Depot and TJX on Tuesday are helping to ease concerns over the US consumer's health in the countdown to the Black Friday sales.

And some retailers also seemed to shrug off concerns that the Paris attacks would chill consumer sentiment heading into the Thanksgiving sales weekend.

Sluggish traffic and a build-up of inventory at Macy's and Nordstrom last week prompted a broad market sell-off in retail stocks. And investors fretted that consumers were not feeling flush despite a brightening economic outlook and a strong recovery in the job market.

But Walmart, the nation's largest retailer by sales, on Tuesday posted positive sales numbers for the fifth consecutive quarter, though it said that income declined as it continued to invest in its e-commerce operations and higher wa…