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Companies signed up for $7.7 billion in new loans, leases and
lines of credit last month, down 8 percent from a year earlier.
Their borrowing fell 8 percent from September.
"Some members report a softening in the demand side of the
business and it remains to be seen whether and to what extent
the specter of rising interest rates will impact the sector,"
ELFA Chief Executive William Sutton said in a statement.
Credit approvals totaled 80.1 percent in October, down slightly
from 80.5 percent in September, said ELFA, a Washington-based
trade association that reports economic activity for the $1.05
trillion equipment finance sector.
ELFA's leasing and finance index measures the volume of
commercial equipment financed in the United States. It is
designed to complement the U.S. Commerce Department's durable
goods orders report, which it precedes by a few days.
ELFA's index is based on a survey of 25 members that include
Bank of America Corp <BAC.N>, BB&T Corp <BBT.N>, CIT Group Inc
<CIT.N> and the financing affiliates or subsidiaries of
Caterpillar Inc <CAT.N>, Deere & Co <DE.N>, Verizon
Communications Inc <VZ.N>, Siemens AG <SIEGn.DE>, Canon Inc
<7751.T> and Volvo AB <VOLVb.ST>.
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA's non-profit
affiliate, said its confidence index rose to 60.2 in November
from 58.7 in October.
A reading of above 50 indicates a positive outlook.
(Reporting by Arunima Banerjee in Bengaluru)
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