** Shares of payments companies were rallying on Thur, with Visa V.N up ~5% and leading gains in the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI>, and American Express AXP.N rising ~2% and hitting a record high

** Mastercard MA.N rose more than 3% and was eying its biggest one-day percentage gain since early April

** Bank of America on Thur upgraded payment network Visa's shares to 'buy' from 'neutral' putting Visa on track for its biggest one-day percentage gain since April 9

** Likely boosting the broader sector was AXP CEO Stephen Squeri's disclosure at a Goldman Sachs conference that the credit card giant saw 9% growth in U.S. retail consumer spending around the key Thanksgiving holiday shopping week

** On Wed, AXP shares had closed up 3.2% . Thur would be its third straight day of gains

(Reporting by Sinead Carew)

((sinead.carew@thomsonreuters.com))