The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation reported that confidence in the equipment finance market was at 58.9, an increase from the July index of 57.9.
When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 16.7 percent of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve, up from 10 percent in July. In addition, 76.7 percent of respondents believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, a decrease from 83.3 percent the previous month, while 6.7 percent believe business will worsen.
Nearly 16.7 percent of the survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures will increase over the next four months, an increase from 10 percent in July. About 80 percent believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four month time period, a decrease from 86.7 percent the previous month. 3.3 believe demand will decline.
When asked, 31 percent of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, a decrease from 33.3 percent in July.
According to the report, 36.7 of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” down from 41.4 percent in July. About 60 percent of the leadership evaluate it as “fair,” an increase from 58.6 percent the previous month. Around 3.3 percent evaluated it as “poor.”
Source: ELFF
