(Refiles with no changes to text) U.S. companies' borrowing to spend on capital investment rose in August, the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) said.
Companies signed up for $7.2 billion in new loans, leases and lines of credit last month, up 13 percent from a year earlier. Borrowing fell 9 percent from July.
"Continued strength in new business volume reflects the uptick in overall economic activity most economists forecast for the second half of 2014," ELFA Chief Executive William Sutton said in a statement.
The Equipment Leasing & Finance Foundation, ELFA's non-profit affiliate, said its confidence index rose to 60.2 in September from 58.9 in August. A reading of above 50 indicates a positive outlook.
Washington-based ELFA, a trade association that reports economic activity for the $827 billion equipment finance sector, said credit approvals totaled 79.5 percent in August, down slightly from 80.3 percent in July.
ELFA's leasing and finance index measures the volume of commercial equipment financed in the United States. It is designed to complement the U.S. Commerce Department's durable goods orders report, which it typically precedes by a few days.
ELFA's index is based on a survey of 25 members that include Bank of America Corp, BB&T Corp, CIT Group Inc and the financing affiliates or subsidiaries of Caterpillar Inc, Deere & Co, Verizon Communications Inc, Siemens AG, Canon Inc and Volvo AB. (Reporting by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)