The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation (the Foundation) releases the June 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 71.3, steady with the May index of 72.1.
When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent Alan Sikora, CLFP, CEO, First American Equipment Finance, says, “Companies across all industries are investing in new projects to stay ahead and better serve their customers, while also investing in technology and programs to better serve their employees in the ‘new normal’ hybrid work environment.”
Report findings include:
- When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 42.3% of executives responding say they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, down from 53.6% in May. 57.7% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, up from 46.4% the previous month. None believe business conditions will worsen, unchanged from May.
- When asked, 46.2% of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, up from 39.3% in May. 50% expect no change in headcount over the next four months, a decrease from 60.7% last month. 3.9% expect to hire fewer employees, up from none in May.
- 22.2% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” an increase from 10.7% the previous month. 77.8% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “fair,” down from 89.3% in May. None evaluate it as “poor,” unchanged from last month.
- 51.9% of the survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get “better” over the next six months, a decrease from 60.7% in May. 48.2% indicate they believe the U.S. economy will “stay the same” over the next six months, an increase from 39.3% last month. None believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen over the next six months, unchanged from the previous month.
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