The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price looks to close the day in the green, up 0.8% in late afternoon trading to $99.43 per share.
Barring a last moment sell-off, today will be only the second day of the week CBA shares closed higher.
Monday was the biggest loss for the big 4 bank, with shares plummeting 5.4%. This was followed by a 2.2% gain on Tuesday, and smaller losses on Wednesday and Thursday.
All up, CBA shares look to close the week down around 4% from last Friday's $103.69 closing price. By comparison the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) looks to finish the week down 0.7% over the same period.
What moved CBA shares this week?
As mentioned up top, CBA shares suffered their biggest hit of the week on Monday. That followed on the bank's announcement it was selling off its general insurance division, CommInsure General Insurance, to Hollard Group.
Although CommBank didn't reveal all the details of the sale, it reported it expected to realise a post-tax gain of $90 million. ASX investors, clearly, were less than impressed.
Tuesday's 2.2% boost in CBA shares came amid news that it was spending big on its technology and innovation efforts. CommBank already employs some 4,000 engineers, the biggest internal tech team in Australia. But that team is set to grow. The bank plans to hire at least 650 more engineers over the coming months.
Bold call on RBA interest rates
CommBank was back in the financial news the following day, when its head of Australian economics, Gareth Aird, upped investor expectations on the pace of coming interest rate rises. While the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has flagged the official cash rate will remain at a rock bottom 0.1% until 2024, Baird says this might happen by November 2022.
CBA shares slid again on Thursday after it announced it was re-entering the invoice financing market after a 10-year hiatus.
What's invoice financing?
As my Foolish colleague Mitchell Lawler explained:
Invoice financing is a method of borrowing for businesses where its accounts receivable, or 'invoices' are used as the collateral. This can give small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to cash to grow while waiting for customers/clients to make payments.
At the current price of $99.43, CBA shares are now down 6.1% from 17 June's all-time closing high of $105.91.
