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Market Insider | What's Shaking | Earnings to Watch | Before the Bell

Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell on Thursday:

Toyota Motor - The automaker agreed to a $1.1 billion settlement of all claims related to unintended acceleration and the accompanying recalls back in 2009 and 2010. The settlement must still be approved by a judge, who is expected to review it tomorrow.

Amazon.com - Amazon remains on top of an online shopping satisfaction survey for the eighth consecutive year. The annual ForeSee survey ranked Amazon with a score of 88 out of 100, with L.L. Bean coming in second at 85. J.C. Penney had the biggest year-to-year drop, while last place was shared by Gilt.com and Fingerhut.com.

Time Warner Cable - The cable operator is reportedly giving low-rated networks a take-it-or-leave-it offer of $0 to be carried on its systems, according to the New York Post. Sources also said the company is pressuring smaller channels not to provide their shows for free online.


Nokia - Nokia's new Lumia phones are already being sold at a discount or being provided for free at some mobile carriers, according to The Wall Street Journal. That could hurt Nokia, which has been betting on the success of the Lumia line to stem years of red ink.

BCD Semiconductor - BCD will be bought by rival chipmaker Diodes for $151 million, or $8 per share in cash. That's slightly more than double BCD's Wednesday closing price.

W.W. Grainger - Grainger will pay $70 million to settle charges that it submitted false claims relating to contracts with the General Services Administration and the U.S. Postal Service. The hardware distributor maintains that it complied with all rules in its contracts and points out the settlement does not contain any admission of wrongdoing.

Pinnacle Entertainment - The casino operator has been upgraded to "hold" from "sell" at Union Gaming Group. Last week, Pinnacle struck a deal to buy Ameristar Casinos for $869 million in cash.

Domino's Pizza - The pizza chain operator is the subject of positive comments from Oppenheimer, which said Domino's is "well-positioned" for the year ahead. It cited easing same-store sales comparisons, product innovation, and an improvement in international results.


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—By CNBC's Peter Schacknow

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