Cloudflare is a software company based in San Francisco, California, that offers security and web performance offerings by utilizing a distributed, serverless content delivery network, or CDN. The firm’s edge computing platform, Workers, leverages this network by providing clients the ability to deploy and execute code without maintaining servers.

Cloudflare provides cloud-based network services that protect internet apps and help them to run faster - without requiring clients to add hardware, install new software, or change code. Cloudflare's unified control plane across on-premise, cloud, hybrid, and Software-as-a-Service data infrastructure environments ensures the security, reliability, and performance of its enterprise customers' external data infrastructure (websites, applications, and application program interfaces); internal networks and devices (identity and access); DevOps; and consumer applications. Cloudflare notes that about 20% of the internet runs behind Cloudflare's intelligent global network. The company seeks to relieve clients of the cost and complexity of managing their own network hardware. Some 48% of the company's revenue is generated outside of the U.S. Cloudflare was founded in 2010 and went public on September 12, 2019, at $15 per share.

Earnings and Fedspeak Earnings season continues this week, but the pace of reports is slowing. Key inflation data is supposed to come out -- but if the U.S. budget stalemate continues, those indicators will not be released. Meanwhile, several Federal Reserve officials will speak publicly. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.3%, the S&P 500 shed 1.8%, and the Nasdaq gave back 3.2%. So far this year, the DJIA is up 10%, the S&P 500 has gained 14%, and the Nasdaq has popped 19%. On the earnings calendar, Occidental Petroleum, Tyson Foods, and Paramount Skydance report on Monday; Cisco Systems is a highlight on Wednesday; and Walt Disney and Applied Materials step up to the plate on Thursday. Some 85% of S&P 500 companies have reported so far and earnings for the quarter are up 17% from the prior-year quarter. That follows 13% growth in 2Q EPS and 14% growth in 1Q EPS, according to LSEG I/B/E/S. For 3Q, Information Technology is the current leading sector, up 29%, while Energy is at the bottom, down 3%. The big retailers, including Walmart, report next week. On the economic calendar, the U.S. federal government shutdown is now the longest in history, at 41 days as of November 10. That means there will be no government-issued economic reports, with missing data on inflation (CPI and PPI) as well as retail sales. Turning to other data, the Chicago Fed Labor Market Indicator (updated twice per month) can serve as a proxy for the government-issued unemployment rate. The Chicago Fed's final forecast for October unemployment rate is 4.36%. Elsewhere, the Atlanta Fed GDPNow measure calls for GDP of 4.0% in the third quarter, a tick higher than last week's forecast. The Cleveland Fed Inflation Nowcast forecasts a 3.0% rate for CPI in October and November. Mortgage rates bumped up last week, with the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage now at 6.22%, according to FreddieMac. Gas prices were down by two cents, at an average of $3.02 per gallon for regular gas. Looking ahead, the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting of the year is on December 10. Odds are at 69% for another 25-basis-point cut to the fed funds target rate, according to the CME FedWatch rate tool. After that, the first few meetings of 2026 are on January 28 and March 18. Taking a deeper dive into performance, U.S. stocks are lagging global stocks. A leading industrialized global stock market index, the ETF EFA, has surged 25% year to date, while the leading emerging market ETF EEM has gained 30%. U.S. growth stocks, with a year-to-date gain of 16% (ETF IWF), have taken the lead over value stocks (ETF IWD), which have booked an advance of 11%. In other asset classes for the year to date, AGG bonds are up 3%, gold is up 54%, crude oil is down 16%, and Bitcoin is up 10%. The U.S. dollar is down 8%, tracking DXY. The VIX Volatility Index settled Friday at about 20, down from a high of 25 a few weeks ago and in a range typical for a bull market. Looking at leading and lagging sectors so far in 2025, Information Technology, up 30%, is the top performer, followed by Communication Services (up 26%), Utilities (up 18%), and Industrials (up 18%) -- all outperforming the S&P 500. The Financial sector (+8%) is close behind the S&P 500. Defensive sectors like Energy, (+3%), Consumer Staples (-1%), Real Estate (+1%), Consumer Discretionary (+7%), Materials (+2%), and Healthcare (+5%) are at the bottom of the performance list.

Cloudflare is a software company based in San Francisco, California, that offers security and web performance offerings by utilizing a distributed, serverless content delivery network, or CDN. The firm’s edge computing platform, Workers, leverages this network by providing clients the ability to deploy and execute code without maintaining servers.