International tourism grew by five percent in the first eight months of 2013, a better-than-expected growth driven mostly by strong results in Europe and Asia, the World Tourism Organisation said Thursday.

International tourist arrivals reached 747 million worldwide between January and August, some 38 million more than in the same period last year, the UNWTO said in a statement.

Leafy well-heeled Luxembourg, the wealthiest European Union nation per capita, is desperately seeking a new economic model as it prepares to shed banking secrecy.

The world's 13th biggest financial center and the second international investment hub after the United States, Luxembourg harvested almost half of its fiscal revenue from the financial sector before the crisis hit in 2008.

The U.S. debt standoff has shaken confidence in Washington's fiscal management and in the dollar as a reliable global currency, but, say analysts in Asia, there is no credible alternative to the greenback.

China and Japan, the biggest holders of U.S. Treasuries, slammed the political gridlock on Capitol Hill and warned that a narrowly averted debt default would have destabilized the global economy -- threatening their vast $2.4 trillion investment in U.S. debt.

Spain's public debt, rising unchecked for the past five years of economic crisis, will peak at just over 101 percent of output in 2015, the government said Thursday.

The country's ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) will hit 101.13 percent in 2015 before easing to 101.09 percent in 2016, according to government documents sent to the European Commission which were published Thursday.

Bank of America posted a third-quarter profit Wednesday that topped estimates, saying provisions for credit losses were sharply lower than a year ago.

Net income was $2.5 billion in the July-September period, up from $340 million in the 2012 third quarter.

Canada is close to reaching a free trade deal with the European Union, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.

"We will soon complete negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with the European Union," Harper said in a Twitter message.

French big box retailer Carrefour saw its sales fall in the third quarter of the year, as the persistently poor economy in southern Europe stymies the company's effort at a turnaround.

The company said Thursday that revenue was 21.1 billion euros ($28.6 billion) in the July-to-September quarter, down 1.3 percent at current exchange rates from the same quarter last year.

Foreign investment in China rose 6.2 percent year-on-year in the first nine months of 2013, the government said Thursday.

However, while the commerce ministry said Chinese investment overseas had increased sharply over the first nine months of the year, the amount of cash going to Japan had almost halved.

The United States was spared the ignominy of a disastrous debt default Wednesday when Congress passed a bill extending the nation's borrowing authority and ending a two-week government shutdown.

After weeks of tumultuous debate, the measure passed first with less than two hours to run until October 17, the date from which the Treasury had warned it might not be able to pay its bills.

Republican and Democratic leaders in the U.S. Senate struck an agreement Wednesday to end a fiscal impasse, hours before Washington hits its debt limit, a senator said.

"I understand that they've come to an agreement," said Senator Kelly Ayotte, a Republican from New Hampshire.