Equipment finance market confidence drops

Confidence in the equipment finance market has dropped, according to the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation’s regular monthly survey, conducted just before the new US presidential was announced.

The Foundation’s monthly confidence index for the equipment finance industry (MCI-EFI) now stands at 54.6, down from the October index of 56. The majority of executives submitted their MCI survey responses prior to the US elections.

The results show a doubling in the number of respondents who believe business conditions will worsen, with 17.2% demonstrating some pessimism, up from 6.1% the previous month. Most (69%) expect business conditions to remain the same.

The same proportion (69%) predict demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures will remain the same over the next four months, and currently only 13.8% of survey respondents believe demand will increase over the next four months, compared to 24.2% in October.

None of those polled evaluate the current US economy as “excellent,” unchanged from last month, but view it as “fair”. As before, around two thirds (65.5%) of survey respondents indicate they believe the US economy will “stay the same” over the next six months.