U.S. business equipment borrowings grow 6% in January - ELFA

Feb 24 (Reuters) - U.S. companies borrowed 6% more in January to finance equipment investments from a year earlier, industry body Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Friday. "Business demand for equipment financing continues unabated despite uncertain and conflicting economic signals — inflationary pressures, rising interest rates, a hot labor market and easing supply chain disruptions," said ELFA Chief Executive Ralph Petta. Companies had signed up for new loans, leases and lines of credit worth $8.8 billion last month, compared with $8.3 billion a year earlier. New business volume, however, was down 32% month-on-month after the typical end-of-quarter, end-of-year spike in new business activity. ELFA, which reports economic activity for the $1 trillion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals were 75.1%, down from 76.6% in December. Washington-based ELFA's leasing and finance index measures the volume of commercial equipment financed in the United States. The index is based on a survey of 25 members, including Bank of America Corp and financing affiliates or units of Caterpillar Inc , Dell Technologies Inc , Siemens AG , Canon Inc and Volvo AB . The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA's non-profit affiliate, said its confidence index in February stood at 51.8, an increase from 48.5 in January. A reading above 50 indicates a positive business outlook. (Reporting by Pratyush Thakur in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)