Confidence dip for equipment finance market

Confidence in the equipment finance market has taken another dip, according to the latest analysis from the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, which says its monthly confidence index for the equipment finance industry (MCI-EFI) stood at 62.8 in July, easing from the June index of 66.2.

When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent Michael Romanowski, president, Farm Credit Leasing Services Corporation, said, “Customers continue to digest the changes related to tax reform to determine how best to finance capital investment. Some customers are delaying capital investment until they better understand the impacts related to tariffs.”

When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 19.4% of those responding to the survey said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, a decrease from 33.3% in June.

Three quarters (77.4%) of respondents believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, an increase from 63.6% the previous month. The proportion who expect conditions to worsen is 3.2% relatively unchanged.

There has been a drop in those who expect demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (to increase over the next four months, which now stands at 19.4% compared to 24.2% in June.

Despite worries about a potential downturn, 41.9% of those responding evaluate the current US economy as “excellent,” up from 39.4% last month.

However, the proportion of survey respondents who respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get “better” over the next six months has halved. It now stands at 12.9%, a decrease from 24.2% in June. There has also been a hike in those believing believe economic conditions in the US. will worsen over the next six months, with 9.7% indicating this will be the case, an increase from 6.1% in June.