Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell:
Sony—Sony's movie "The Interview" opened in more than 300 theaters on Christmas Day and streamed online as well. That followed Sony's earlier decision to pull the movie following threats from a hacker group and a subsequent refusal by major movie theater chains to show it.
Qualcomm—The semiconductor maker could soon be in the clear in China, where the government said it would soon settle its antitrust probe of the maker of mobile semiconductors.
Wal-Mart, Macy's, Kohl's, Nordstrom—These and other retailers will be on today's watch list, after the International Council of Shopping Centers reported that this holiday shopping season saw the best sales growth in three years.
Chevron, Exxon Mobil—These and other energy stocks will be on watch today as well, as the price of oil rebounds somewhat. On Wednesday, eight of the top 10 percentage losers in the S&P 500—and 20 of the first 25—were energy-related stocks.
McGraw-Hill Financial—The company's Standard & Poor's unit is near a settlement with regulators over its grading of financial crisis era real estate bonds, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Tesla—The automaker will have an announcement about an upgrade to its Roadster model today, according to a tweet sent out on Twitter by CEO Elon Musk.
El Dorado Gold, Market Vectors Junior Gold—Gold stocks in general are higher today as the price of the metal rebounds, with these two among the biggest gainers in pre-market trading.
GoPro—The high definition camera maker is extending gains achieved in Wednesday's shortened session, when it rose following positive comments from Wedbush about the company's holiday season sales.
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