March 22 (Reuters) - U.S. companies borrowed 4% more to finance equipment investments in February compared to a year ago, industry body Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said on Friday.
Companies signed up for new loans, leases and lines of credit worth $7.9 billion in February, down 15% from a month ago.
"Credit quality, while still elevated year over year, showed improvement with delinquencies slowly returning to normal levels and charge-offs moving in a positive direction,” ELFA CEO Leigh Lytle said.
The Washington-based company, which reports economic activity for over $1-trillion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals for U.S. companies in February came in at 76%, unchanged from the preceding month.
Its non-profit affiliate, the Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, said its confidence index for March stood at 55.2, up from 51.7 for February and was at its highest level since April 2022. A reading above 50 indicates a positive business outlook.
ELFA's leasing and finance index is based on a 25-member survey, including Bank of America (BAC.N), opens new tab and financing units of Caterpillar (CAT.N), opens new tab, Dell Technologies (DELL.N), opens new tab, Siemens AG (SIEGn.DE), opens new tab, Canon Inc (7751.T), opens new tab and Volvo AB (VOLVb.ST), opens new tab.
Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid
