The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price dropped 2.6% in May.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) bank stock closed on 28 April trading for $99.36 per share. At yesterday's closing bell, shares were changing hands for $96.78 apiece.
While that's not a great month for the CBA share price, the big bank did outperform the benchmark index. The ASX 200 fell 3% over the month.
Here's what investors were considering.
US banking woes roil Aussie markets
The CBA share price started off May on a strong note, gaining 1.1% on the first day of trading.
That came despite new ructions in the United States' banking sector.
Investors awoke on 1 May to news that First Republic Bank (NYSE: FRC) was set to be the next US bank to collapse, with its shares down a calamitous 98% since the banking crisis first erupted in March with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.
By the end of the first week of May other US regional banks, including PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ: PACW) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE: WAL) had been hit by a wave of selling, sending their shares tumbling.
Not surprisingly, then, the CBA share price got caught up in the negative sentiment and ended the first week of the month down 3.3%.
CBA share price gains on quarterly results
The rest of May saw better returns for the big bank's shareholders.
On 9 May CommBank released its quarterly results for the three months ending 31 March, which saw the CBA share price close up 0.2%.
The highlight was a 10% year on year increase in cash net profit after tax (NPAT), which came in at $2.6 billion for the quarter.
The bank also reported a 5.2% increase in its home lending business, which increased by $6.9 billion year on year.
Business lending was also up by $2.6 billion from the first quarter of 2022 representing a 12% increase.
With the banking woes in the US in mind, investors were also pleased with the bank's strong capital position.
CommBank's CEO Matt Comyn said on the day:
Our capital position remained strong with CET1 (Level 2) ratio at 12.1% following the payment of $3.5 billion in 1H23 dividends, well above APRA's minimum regulatory requirement of 10.25%.
CBA share price snapshot
With the 2.6% slide in May factored in, CBA shares have slipped just over 9% in a year.
