Key insights
- US business equipment borrowing increased 12.5% YoY in March, but declined 1.8% MoM. Small-ticket volume, a key economic indicator, fell 17.7%, signaling potential economic slowdown. The ELFA confidence index also dropped to its lowest since May 2023, reflecting concerns about the Middle East conflict and weakening demand heading into summer. This suggests a potentially bearish outlook for US equities, particularly in sectors reliant on capital expenditure.
Investing.com -- U.S. companies boosted equipment borrowing by 12.5% in March from a year earlier, reaching $10.8 billion, according to the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association.
The association, which monitors over $1 trillion in the sector, based its figures on a survey of 25 members, including Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) and financing units of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT), Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL), Siemens AG (ETR:SIEGn), Canon (TYO:7751) and Volvo AB (ST:VOLVb).
However, new loans, leases, and credit lines in March fell 1.8% from February.
Small-ticket volume, a key economic indicator, dropped 17.7% to $3.4 billion—below its 12-month average of $3.6 billion.
ELFA President Leigh Lytle said the Middle East conflict’s full impact hasn’t shown up in the data yet, but she expects demand to weaken heading into summer.
The association’s confidence index fell to 54.6 in April from 61 in March, its lowest since May 2025.
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