The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation has released the Q2 2020 Equipment Leasing & Finance Industry Snapshot, a resource for industry participants that is more indispensable than ever amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Designed for use in executive briefings and presentations, the presentation slide deck summarizes the current conditions and projections for the U.S. economy and equipment finance industry with clear, easy-to-digest charts and short narratives of key trends.
Among the range of details in the new release:
• The U.S. economy grew at a moderate 2.1% annualized growth in Q4 2019 driven by net exports, while consumer spending remained healthy ahead of the pandemic.
• The U.S. economy is already in a recession and will suffer a historically deep contraction of -30 to -40% in Q2 2020.
• COVID-19 economic impacts on consumers include millions of employee layoffs, plummeting spending, and rapidly rising financial stress.
• Impacts on businesses range from a decimated service sector as more than 90% of the U.S. population is under stay-at-home orders, to the collapse in demand for hotels, to a massive demand shock in the oil sector that may result in a 30 million barrel per day global oversupply.
• Equipment and software investment is likely to plunge in the first half of 2020, though a return to growth is possible in the second half of the year should the public health crisis subside.
• New business volume growth reported in ELFA’s Monthly Leasing and Finance Index is off to a strong start in 2020, but the effects of the pandemic are likely to quickly reverse this trend.
