The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation's May 2023 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI) reports an assessment of business conditions and future expectations for the $1 trillion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 40.6, a decrease from the April index of 47.
“Until we get back to energy independence, I don't see an uptick in the economy in the foreseeable future,” said James D. Jenks, CEO, Global Finance and Leasing Services, LLC.
May 2023 Survey Results:
- No executives believe business conditions will improve over the next four months, a decrease from 11% in April. 52% believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, down from 70%. 48% believe business conditions will worsen, an increase from 18.5% in April.
- 3.6% believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures (capex) will increase, unchanged from April. 54% believe demand will remain the same, a decrease from 70%. 43% believe demand will decline, up from 26% in April.
- 11% expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, up from 7% in April. 75% of executives indicate they expect the same access to capital, a decrease from 78%. 14% expect less access, down from 15% the previous month.
- When asked, 18% of the executives expect to hire more employees over the next four months, a decrease from 33% in April. 68% expect no change in headcount, an increase from 52% last month. 14% expect to hire fewer employees, down from 15% in April.
- None of the leadership evaluate the current U.S. economy as excellent, unchanged from the previous month. 86% evaluate the current U.S. economy as fair, down from 89%. 14% evaluate it as poor, an increase from 11% last month.
- 4% believe U.S. economic conditions will get better over the next six months, a decrease from 7% in April. 32% indicate they believe the U.S. economy will stay the same, a decrease from 48% last month. 64% believe economic conditions will worsen over the next six months, an increase from 44%.
- In May, 36% indicate they believe their company will increase spending on business development activities during the next six months, down from 37% the previous month. 54% believe there will be no change in business development spending, up from 44% in April. 11% believe there will be a decrease in spending, down from 18.5% last month.