The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price is having a stellar year on the ASX. In fact, the banking giant is now only 2% lower than its highest share price of the last 5 years.
So far, the CBA share price has gained around 6% year to date. If it keeps up this rate of growth, it could smash its previous all-time high of ~$96 (which it reached in 2015) before the end of the year.
Let's take a look at what's been driving the bank's share price lately.
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How bright is the future?
The CBA share price has been performing well lately, despite a rough trot for the banking giant.
In the last month alone, the Commonwealth Bank has weathered class actions, copped a $7 million fine for deceptive conduct, and settled a US class action.
Fortunately for its shareholders, the bank's share price has continued to climb despite the bad press. It's grown by around 5% over the last 30 days.
It's been helped along by an impressive economic recovery, as its rival National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) reports is nearing completion.
The Australian employment rate is also looking positive, as the number of hours worked by Australians is back to pre-COVID levels. This bodes well for Australia's economy and, arguably, banking shares, in turn.
Currently, the CBA share price is only around 7% lower than its all-time highest closing price.
With the International Monetary Fund now believing Australia will completely recover from the COVID-induced recession in 2021, is there a chance we might see CBA shares smash their record before the year ends?
CBA share price snapshot
At the time of writing, the CBA share price is even with yesterday's closing price of $89.14.
Based on the current share price, the company has a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 23.98.
Commonwealth Bank has a market capitalisation of around $158 billion, with approximately 1.77 billion shares outstanding.
