BEFORE THE BELL-Goldman shares rise after BofA-Merrill upgrade

NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - Shares of Goldman Sachs (GS.N) rose 2.4 percent to $141.85 in premarket trading on Thursday, after Banc of America-Merrill Lynch upgraded the financial services company to "buy," citing the company's earnings power and rapidly increasing book value.

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(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio)

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