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Equipment leasing and finance industry confidence increases in February

The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, Washington, D.C., has released the February 2019 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI). Designed to collect leadership data, 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 increased in February to 56.7 from the January index of 53.4.

When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 10 percent of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve, unchanged from January, while 83.3 percent believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, an increase from 70 percent the previous month. Only 6.7 percent believe business conditions will worsen, down from 20 percent who believed so the previous month.

Nearly 27 percent of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, a decrease from 33.3 percent in January. The majority, 56.7 percent, expect no change in head count through June, an increase from 53.3 percent last month, while 16.7 percent expect to hire fewer employees, up from 13.3 percent in January.

The U.S. economy was described as excellent by 36.7 percent of the leadership, while 63.3 percent label it as fair, unchanged from January. A little more than 13 percent of the survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get better through August, up from 10 percent in January. Seventy percent indicate they believe the U.S. economy will stay the same through August, an increase from 50 percent in January. Nearly 17 percent believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen through August, a decrease from 40 percent in January.

Survey results are posted at www.leasefoundation.org/industry-resources/monthly-confidence-index/.