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Early movers: MYL, DB, VIA, CBS, TWTR, MRK, BABA, UTX, MCD & more

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:

Mylan — The drugmaker agreed to pay $465 million to settle charges that it overcharged the government for its EpiPen products. Mylan had been accused of incorrectly classifying EpiPen as a generic instead of a branded product.

Deutsche Bank — Deutsche Bank were under pressure early in the European session on the lack of expected settlement deal with the Justice Department over its sales of mortgage-backed securities, but subsequently erased its losses and went positive.

Viacom, CBS — The two companies may be closer to recombining, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that both have hired advisers to explore a potential merger.

Twitter — Shares are under pressure once again on reports that potential suitors are now unlikely to make a bid for Twitter, with the latest coming from a Bloomberg story over the weekend.

Twilio — Twilio filed for a follow-on offering, with most of the shares expected to be sold by existing stockholders. The cloud computing company will not receive any proceeds from those share sales, although it will also sell an undetermined number of shares on its own.

Calpine — The power generation company is buying the North American energy distribution unit of Singapore commodities trader Noble Group for $1.05 billion.

Facebook — Facebook's U.K. subsidiary generated an 11 million pound (about $14 million) tax credit in 2015, even as its revenue jumped, according to numbers released this weekend. Facebook did say it paid all taxes required under U.K. law.

Tesla — The automaker will not have to raise new funds during the fourth quarter to fund its acquisition of SolarCity, according to Elon Musk, who is chairman of both companies. That's the opposite of what was said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. Musk also said Tesla would "probably" not have to raise funds in the first quarter of 2017.

Novartis — The drugmaker reported upbeat results in a study that combined an experimental drug with an older treatment to combat breast cancer. The study found that the combined treatment kept the disease in check for a good deal longer than current treatment regimens.

Alibaba — The China-based online retailer has formed a partnership with Hollywood director Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners that will help the Spielberg company distribute movies in China.

Merck — Merck reported longer survival rates in a study that treated advanced lung cancer patients with its immune system-boosting drug Keytruda, compared to conventional chemotherapy.

Dow Chemical — UBS upgraded Dow to "buy" from "neutral," saying the proposed merger with DuPont could gain regulatory approval and that the stock is now "too cheap to ignore."

United Technologies — Citi downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy," saying consensus forecasts are too high given a number of underlying issues that will crimp earnings.

McDonald's — Telsey Advisory Group resumed coverage on the restaurant chain's shares with an "outperform" rating, praising the "operational metamorphosis" implemented by CEO Steve Easterbrook since he came on board nearly two years ago.

Netflix — Deutsche Bank initiated coverage on the video streaming service with a "sell" rating, saying market expectations through 2020 appear to be too high. The firm is positive on the business but said risk/reward is unattractive and that Netflix is unlikely to be the target of a potential buyer.

—By CNBC's Peter Schacknow

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