Equipment leasing and finance industry confidence at all-time high in January

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, Washington, D.C., has released the January 2018 Monthly Confidence Index for the equipment finance industry. The index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $1 trillion equipment finance sector.

Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 75.3 in January, an increase from 69.4 in December 2017 and the highest level since the index was launched in 2009.

When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 67.7 percent of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, an increase from 32.1 percent in December. Twenty-nine percent of respondents believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, a decrease from 67.9 percent the previous month. While no respondents believed business conditions would get worse when surveyed in December, 3.2 percent now believe business conditions will worsen.

Nearly 68 percent of survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures will increase over the next four months, an increase from 46.4 percent in December. Twenty-nine percent believe demand will remain the same during the same four-month time period, down from 53.6 percent the previous month. Just over 3 percent believe demand will decline, an increase from none who believed so in December.

About 35 percent of the respondents expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, up from 25.0 percent in December. A little more than 61 percent of executives indicate they expect the same access to capital to fund business, a decrease from 67.9 percent last month. About 3 percent expect less access to capital, down from 7.1 percent last month.

Nearly 42 percent of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, a decrease from 53.6 percent in December. Almost 55 percent expect no change in head count over the next four months, an increase from 46.4 percent last month. About 3 percent expect to hire fewer employees, an increase from none in December.

Nearly 26 percent of the leadership evaluates the current U.S. economy as excellent, up from 10.7 percent last month. Just over 74 percent of the leadership evaluates the current U.S. economy as fair, a decrease from 89.3 percent in December. None evaluate it as poor, unchanged from last month.

About 61 percent of the survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get better over the next six months, an increase from 42.9 percent in December. Almost 39 percent of survey respondents indicate they believe the U.S. economy will stay the same over the next six months, a decrease from 57.1 percent the previous month. None believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen over the next six months, unchanged from December.

In January, 61.3 percent of respondents indicate they believe their company will increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, an increase from 57.1 percent in December. A little more than 35 percent believe there will be no change in business development spending, a decrease from 42.9 percent the previous month. About 3 percent believe there will be a decrease in spending, an increase from none last month.