On Wednesday, Visa shares posted the second-biggest decline in the Dow Jones index, with Bank of America downgrading its recommendation on the stock from 'buy' to 'neutral'.

Just over an hour after opening, the credit card issuer's shares were down by around 1.6%, while the Dow gave up less than 0.1% at the same time.

In a sector note, Bank of America believes that the horizon is darkening for payment specialists such as Visa and Mastercard, which it is also downgrading, leading it to consider upside potential to be now limited, particularly in view of the strong buy positioning of many investors on the shares.

Bank of America is also concerned about the two groups' ability to maintain business growth rates in excess of 10%, as regulatory conditions tighten in some countries.

BofA's downgraded recommendation - which also reduces its price target from $305 to $297 - is fuelling the bearish trend that has been affecting the stock since early spring.

The share, which hit an all-time high at the end of March, has lost around 10% since then.

The share price has risen by only 2% since the beginning of the year, which still gives a market valuation of $535 billion, the 13th largest US capitalization.

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