Consumer confidence slides

The Conference Board's latest reading of its consumer confidence index was lower than expectations.

The index came in at 120.3, lower than economists' expectation of 122.5. It is also a decline from last month's reading of 125.6.

The index has seen a massive surge following the election of President Donald Trump, and March's reading was the highest in 16 years for the index.

Additionally the prior month's reading indicated that the number of Americans expecting jobs to be plentiful going forward also hit a 16-year high.

"Consumers assessed current business conditions and, to a lesser extent, the labor market less favorably than in March," Lynn Franco, Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board said in a statement.

"Looking ahead, consumers were somewhat less optimistic about the short-term outlook for business conditions, employment and income prospects. Despite April's decline, consumers remain confident that the economy will continue to expand in the months ahead."