American Express for the third quarter reported a 3 percent year-over-year increase in global corporate travel sales to $4.5 billion,

ending six consecutive quarters of decline. That 3 percent increase came as consumer travel sales fell by 9 percent. Including corporate travel and commercial cards, the company's Global Commercial Services division reported average basic card member spending of $6,139 for the quarter, up 6 percent from a year earlier. GCS card billed business also rose 6 percent, while total cards in force edged up 1 percent to 7.1 million. Amex CFO Jeff Campbell on Wednesday told analysts that improved corporate travel performance comes "as we lap the slowdown in corporate spending that we saw beginning with the second half of 2012." For the full company, third-quarter net income improved 9 percent to $1.4 billion and revenues increased 6 percent to $8.3 billion.