US consumer sentiment keeps falling

US consumer sentiment declined in April, a fourth straight fall amid increasing worries about economic growth.

The preliminary reading of the consumer sentiment for April fell to 89.7 from 91 in March, said the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment Friday.

"Consumers reported a slowdown in expected wage gains, weakening inflation-adjusted income expectations, and growing concerns that slowing economic growth would reduce the pace of job creation," said survey director Richard Curtin.

But Curtin remained optimistic about the future trend of consumer sentiment, saying "these apprehensions should ease as the economy rebounds from its dismal start in the first quarter of 2016."

The sub-index of current conditions, reflecting Americans' perceptions of their financial situation and whether they consider it a good time to buy big-ticket items like cars, fell to 105.4 from 105.6 last month.

The sub-index gauging consumer expectations for six months from now, which more closely projects the direction of consumer spending, slid to 79.6 from 81.5 in March.