All major categories of construction spending increased in July and total construction reached the highest level since December 2008, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials welcomed the robust spending figures, but cautioned that growing demand will put new pressure on an already tight labor market. “It is encouraging to see signs of a broad-based recovery in private construction along with a recovery—at least for now—in public construction investment,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Private nonresidential construction should remain strong through the rest of 2014 and beyond, while residential spending is likely … Read more

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation recently released the August 2014 Monthly Confidence Index for the Equipment Finance Industry. Designed to collect leadership data, the index reports a qualitative assessment of both the prevailing business conditions and expectations for the future as reported by key executives from the $827-billion equipment finance sector. Overall, confidence in the equipment finance market is 58.9, easing from the previous two months" indexes of 61.4.   When asked about the outlook for the future, MCI-EFI survey respondent Thomas Jaschik, president, BB&T Equipment Finance, said, “The next two months will be very interesting … Read more