The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation has released the July 2021 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) today, showing a small increase in confidence in the equipment finance market.

Results include:

• When asked to assess their business conditions over the next four months, 58.6% of executives responding said they believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, up from 42.3% in June. 41.4% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, down from 57.7% the previous month. None believe business conditions will worsen, unchanged from June.
• 55.2% of the survey respondents believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase over the next four months, up from 51.9% in June. 41.4% believe demand will “remain the same” during the same four-month time period, a decrease from 48.2% the previous month. 3.5% believe demand will decline, up from none in June. 
• 37.9% of the respondents expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, up from 32.1% in June. 62.1% of executives indicate they expect the “same” access to capital to fund business, a decrease from 67.9% last month. None expect “less” access to capital, unchanged from the previous month.  
• When asked, 37.9% of the executives report they expect to hire more employees over the next four months, down from 46.2% in June. 62.1% expect no change in headcount over the next four months, an increase from 50% last month. None expect to hire fewer employees, down from 3.9% in June.
• 27.6% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “excellent,” an increase from 22.2% the previous month. 72.4% of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as “fair,” down from 77.8% in June. None evaluate it as “poor,” unchanged from last month.
• 48.3% of the survey respondents believe that U.S. economic conditions will get “better” over the next six months, a decrease from 51.9% in June. 51.7% indicate they believe the U.S. economy will “stay the same” over the next six months, an increase from 48.2% last month. None believe economic conditions in the U.S. will worsen over the next six months, unchanged from the previous month.
• In July 51.7% of respondents indicate they believe their company will increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, up from 48.2% last month. 48.3% believe there will be “no change” in business development spending, a decrease from 51.9% in June. None believe there will be a decrease in spending, unchanged from last month.