Some private companies are sitting on the fence when it comes tomaking new investments given the still recovering economy.

According to a new survey from Sageworks, a Raleigh, N.C.-based research firm that collecteddata from 392 professionals from financial institutions, 57% saidtheir business clients will not increase their capital expendituresdue to the current economic situation.

For companies applying for loans, most are seeking to financeequipment, new or upgraded facilities and other working capital,Sageworks said. Nearly 40% of respondents said their businessclients applied for loans for various working capital investments, while less than1% applied for a loan to help fund hiring decisions.

While more than half of the survey's respondents predictedprivate companies will not be increasing capital expenditures, 24%said their clients are more likely to invest in new capital,Sageworks said.

Ten percent said they were unsure if their clients will increaseor decrease their capital expenditures and 8% believed the economicclimate will not affect their clients' investment decisions.

Sageworks said it conducted the online survey from March 8through March 31 from its client database. Because of the way thesurvey was set up, there's no way to isolate each response anddetermine which institution it came from, a spokesman toldCredit Union Times.

However, while the majority of responses were from banks, creditunions were 100% included in the target pool of people the surveywas sent to and likely included their responses, the spokesmansaid.