The Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) fell to 63.9 in December, according to the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation. The November index was 64.6.
About one-third (34.6 percent) of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, unchanged from November. Six in 10 (61.5 percent) said business conditions will remain the same, up from 46.2 percent the previous month.
About a quarter (26.9 percent) of respondents said demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures will increase over the next four months, down from 42.3 percent in November. Some 73.1 percent said demand will “remain the same.”
One in five (19.2 percent) evaluate the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” an increase from 15.4 percent the previous month. About three-quarters (76.9 percent) evaluate the current U.S. economy as “fair,” down from 80.8 percent in November.
Some 19.2 percent of respondents said that U.S. economic conditions will get “better” over the next six months, a decrease from 23.1 percent in November. Another 61.5 percent said that they believe the U.S. economy will “stay the same,” an increase from 57.7 percent last month.
When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent Daniel J. Krajewski, President and CEO, Sertant Capital, LLC, said, “The near-term future of the equipment finance industry shows promise for continued expansion. As infrastructure bills are passed and implemented there will be a demand for many asset classes from construction through IT platforms. This, of course, will need to be supported by increased manufacturing capacity to build all the required capital goods. I do have concerns about the political atmosphere that currently exists in the U.S. that may slow down or even kill the entire infrastructure bill, and secondly, the supply chain issues that have bottlenecked the product delivery system.”
Source: Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation.
