Boom in plant and equipment spending peaks out - business expectations in leasing moving sideways

In the German leasing sector the business climate clearly clouded over in the third quarter of 2007. The business situation and outlook deteriorated perceptibly, but the entire indicator is still above the previous-year level. 35% of the leasing companies evaluated their business situation in November as good, 62% as satisfactory, and only 3% of the surveyed companies considered their current business situation to be poor. Also with regard to the business outlook, optimism has decreased. 22% of the survey participants reckon with a more favourable course of business, 73% with an unchanged situation and 5% expect a worsening.