Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares have climbed higher into the green in Thursday afternoon trade.
At the time of writing, the shares are up over 3% and changing hands for $156.04 a piece.
At one point this afternoon, the shares reached as high as $157.08 each.
Today's increase means the ASX bank shares are now up around 5% over the past week, recouping some losses shed earlier this year.
CBA shares are still down around 3% year to date and roughly 6% from this time last year.
For context, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is travelling in the other direction today. At the time of writing, the index is down slightly, around 0.5%.
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Why are CBA shares climbing higher again today?
There isn't any price-sensitive news out of CBA today to explain today's share price jump.
It looks like the ASX bank sector as a whole is rallying higher, with the other big four banks also making gains in afternoon trade.
The main catalyst is most likely the result of fresh economic data, announced today.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released data showing that, in seasonally adjusted terms, Australia's employment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point to 4.7% in September.
It looks like this has significantly boosted investor confidence that the Reserve Bank will decide to hold interest rates steady at its next meeting on the 3rd of November, rather than implement another hike as originally feared.
Renewed confidence that the RBA will pause rates for the time being looks to have lifted the entire financial sector. And as CBA has the most dominant market position as Australia's largest bank, it is leading the share price increase today.
Are the bank shares a buy, hold, or sell now?
The latest analyst data still shows the experts are wary about the outlook for CBA shares over the next 12 months.
Market Index data shows that all brokers still have a strong sell rating on CBA shares. The $125.20 target price implies the shares could fall another 20% over the next 12 months, at the time of writing.
TradingView shows something similar. The majority (14 out of 16) have a sell/strong sell rating on the shares. However, two more have a hold rating on CBA.
The average $128.29 target price still implies a potential downside of around 18%, at the time of writing.
It looks like today's news was positive for CBA shares, but it's most likely to be short-lived. The bank is still significantly overvalued relative to its peers, and the mortgage market remains under pressure.
