Equipment finance industry confidence improves in July

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation released the July 2021 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI). The index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $900 billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 72.9, an increase from the June index of 71.3.

Some of the results are:

When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 58.6% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 42.3% in June. 41.4% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, down from 57.7% the previous month. None believe business conditions will worsen, unchanged from June.

55.2% of the survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, up from 51.9% in June. 41.4% believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month time period, a decrease from 48.2% the previous month. 3.5% believe demand will decline, up from none in June.

27.6% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” an increase from 22.2% the previous month. 72.4% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “fair,” down from 77.8% in June. None evaluate it as “poor,” unchanged from last month.

48.3% of the survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get “better” over the next six months, a decrease from 51.9% in June. 51.7% indicate they believe the U.S. economy will “stay the same” over the next six months, an increase from 48.2% last month. None believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen over the next six months, unchanged from the previous month.