CHICAGO (Reuters) - A key measure of U.S. business sentiment improved sharply in September, a lender group told Reuters on Monday, as companies increased their investment in equipment and software and did a better job of staying current on their existing debts.The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association said that U.S. businesses originated $5.8 billion in loans, leases and lines of credit last month to invest in capital equipment, which can include everything from tool-and-die machines and delivery trucks to office furniture and computer hardware and software.
That was up 23 percent from September 2009 and the largest year-over-year increase in two years, ELFA said, driven by investment in technology and healthcare equipment.
The group, which represents the lenders who finance half the capital investment in the United States each year, said 3.41 percent of borrowers were delinquent 30 days or more on their borrowings in September, down from 4.27 percent in August and 5.60 percent last year -- the biggest year-over-year decline in past-dues in two years.
ELFA's report, provided to Reuters a day ahead of its official release, was consistent with recent encouraging earnings reports from a number of top U.S. makers of capital equipment, including Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment, Illinois Tool Works (ITW.N), United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) and Eaton Corp (ETN.N).
ELFA's members include Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), Canon Inc (7751.T) affiliate Canon Financial Services, Caterpillar Financial Services Corp, CIT Group Inc (CIT.N), Dell Inc's (DELL.O) Dell Financial Services, Deere & Co's (DE.N) John Deere Credit Corp, Siemens AG's (SIEGn.DE) Siemens Financial Services and Verizon Communications Inc's (VZ.N) Verizon Capital Corp affiliate, among others.
(Reporting by James B. Kelleher, editing by Matthew Lewis)
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