US confidence in the equipment finance market remained unchanged in July, compared to June, at 61.4 in the US Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation’s (ELFF) Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI).
When asked about business conditions over the next four months, 28.6% of executives said they expected conditions to improve, 68.6% said they expected conditions to remain the same and just 2.9% felt conditions would worsen.
The number of respondents expecting demand for leases and loans to increase over the next four months grew, up from 17.6% to 25.7%, while the number expecting it to stay the same fell from 79.4% to 68.6%. 5.7% believed demand would fall, up from 2.9%.
Just 2.9% of respondents expected to hire fewer employees over the next four months, compared to 5.7% in June. In comparison 37% said they expected hiring to increase, down from 44% last month, and 60% expected no change, up from 50%.
In July 25.7% felt their company would increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, compared to 35.3% in June, 74.3% felt there will be no change, up from 61.8%, and no one said they intended to decrease spending, down from 2.9%.
Despite the flat levels of confidence, Adam D. Warner, president, Key Equipment Finance and chairman of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, said: "I don’t believe that the dramatic contraction of the U.S. economy in Q1 should be blamed on winter weather. There are underlying concerns by businesses and consumers that real unemployment has been too high for too long and not enough of the federal incentives are around job creation."
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By GlobalDataThe MCI-EFI involves interviews with 50 leasing industry executives from a cross section of companies.