Confidence in the equipment finance market increased in March for the second consecutive month to 60.4, up from the February index of 56.7, according to the latest Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry (MCI-EFI).

Looking towards the next quarter, 20% of respondents believe business conditions will improve - up from 10% in February. 70% of respondents believe business conditions will remain the same over the next four months, a decrease from 83.3% the previous month.

Almost a quarter of executives surveyed (23.3%) believe demand for leases and loans to fund capital expenditures will increase over the next four months, an increase from 13.3% in February.

Some 13.3% of the respondents expect more access to capital to fund equipment acquisitions over the next four months, down from 20.7% in February, while 46.7% of the executives expect to hire more employees over the next four months, an increase from 26.7% in February.

Turning to the US economy, 36.7% of the leadership see conditions as "excellent", 63.3% see things as "fair", and none evaluate it as "poor" - all unchanged for the second consecutive month.