White House mulls taking stakes in defense firms; Consumer confidence slips; Summer office attendance holds steady

The Trump administration is considering taking an equity stake in Lockheed Martin and other defense and munitions companies, according to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Such a move would follow the government’s recent agreement with Intel to acquire $8.9 billion in its stock, amounting to a nearly 10% stake in the chipmaker.

“There’s a monstrous discussion about defense,” Lutnick said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC. Describing Lockheed Martin as “basically an arm of the U.S. government,” he said the White House and Pentagon are mulling new ways to finance the nation’s defense operations.

Lockheed Martin is “continuing our strong working relationship with President Trump and his administration to strengthen our national defense,” the Bethesda, Maryland-based company said in a statement Tuesday to CoStar News that did not address a potential government investment in the defense firm.

Defense contractors are big users of office and industrial space in states with large military-focused economies, such as Texas, Virginia and California. The latest available Defense Department data showed Lockheed Martin was the largest recipient of defense contracts in fiscal 2023 at $61.4 billion, followed by RTX Corp. at $24.1 billion, General Dynamics at $22.9 billion and Boeing at $20.1 billion.

Consumer confidence declined for August in the latest national survey by the Conference Board, with respondents concerned about future employment and income growth prospects, the economic research group said Tuesday.

“Consumer confidence dipped slightly in August but remained at a level similar to those of the past three months,” Conference Board Senior Economist Stephanie Guichard said in a statement. “The present situation and the expectation components both weakened.”

Based on several metrics gauging views of household finances and overall U.S. business conditions, the group’s latest confidence index posted at 97.4 for August, down 1.3 points from July, with the year 1985 used as a base of 100. Guichard noted lingering concerns over future price hikes being spurred by trade tariffs, with year-ahead inflation expectations rising in August after three straight months of easing.

The Conference Board said purchasing plans for new and used cars rose in August from the prior month, with home purchase plans rising slightly after a July decline. Plans to purchase big-ticket items were down slightly overall, with the largest declines posted for TVs and computer tablets, though buying plans increased for washers and dryers. Vacation spending plans fell for the second straight month. 

Ten tracked U.S. regions averaged 52.3% of their pre-pandemic office attendance for the week ended Aug. 20, unchanged from the previous week but besting figures for the comparable late summer week of prior years, according to the latest Kastle Systems data.

Average attendance has consistently posted above 51% for most of 2025 as employers ramp up in-office work requirements. The security technology firm’s latest average attendance number topped the average of 22.3% in the comparable August week of 2020, 31.3% in 2021, 43.5% in 2022 and 47.2% in both 2023 and 2024.

Based on anonymous keycard data from Kastle’s office property clients, the latest numbers showed Texas cities remaining in the top spots with Austin at 68.8%, Houston at 61.6% and Dallas at 60.3%. Next came Chicago at 56.8%; San Jose in California’s Silicon Valley at 49%; Los Angeles at 48.3%; and Washington, D.C., at 48%.