Confidence in the US equipment leasing market is on the up, after some months of uncertainty, according to the latest data from the Equipment Leasing and Finance Foundation.
The Foundation’s monthly confidence index for the equipment finance industry (MCI-EFI) ticked up to 65.5 in September, well above the August index of 60.7.
When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent David Normandin, managing director, commercial finance group, Hanmi Bank, said: ‘The summer of 2018 has been brisk with activity and funded volume has been strong. Continued economic confidence and indicators lead me to believe that this will continue in the short term, thus I am optimistic about the remainder of 2018 and the start of 2019.’
When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 17.9% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, an increase from 13.3% in August. None now believe business conditions will worsen, a decrease from the 6.7% who believed so the previous month.
There has been a significant leap in the proportion of respondents predicting demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures will increase over the next four months, which now stands at 35.7%, up from 16.7% in August.
Most of those polled (85.2%) indicate they believe the US economy will “stay the same” over the next six months, an increase from 73.3% the previous month. There has been a drop in the numbers who believe economic conditions in the US will worsen over the next six months (3.7%), compared with 13.3% in August.