Repossessions and liquidations of trucking equipment in the fourth quarter of 2009 declined significantly as compared to similar figures from 2008, according to Nassau Asset Management’s NasTrac Quarterly Index. The figures, culled from the company’s activity reports for both repossessions and orderly liquidations, also indicated a decline in machine tool repossessions, along with a rise in repossessions for both construction and printing equipment, offering a mixed message on the current state of the American economy.
Trucking repossessions dropped by 55 percent in the latest NQI, marking the second straight quarter of considerable declines. The results in these two quarters follow in the wake of a steady increase in activity in this sector, beginning in early 2008. Machine tool repossessions processed by Nassau followed the same track as trucking repos. They declined by 20 percent in Q4 2009, following a decline of 55 percent in Q3 2009, as compared to the same periods in 2008.
However, other sectors continued to report increased activity in the NQI. Construction repossessions and liquidations rose by 23 percent during the quarter, and printing equipment repossessions increased by more than 200 percent, as compared to the same total last year.
“2009 ended with two quarters of mixed results, after beginning the year with two very difficult quarters,” says Ed Castagna, president of Nassau Asset Management. “These numbers indicate some relief for the battered trucking and machine tool verticals of the equipment leasing sector, but that relief has yet to spread to other important sectors. Based on the data in the NQI and information gathered in our ongoing communication with clients and other business leaders in the various economic sectors in which we operate, we foresee more months of these varied results before things improve.”
