Consumer confidence dropped sharply in September to its lowest level in four months, according to preliminary data released Friday, as Americans expressed growing anxiety about job security and the persistence of high prices.

The University of Michigan’s closely watched index of consumer sentiment fell to 55.4 in September from 58.2 in August, missing economists’ expectations and reflecting what survey director Joanne Hsu described as “multiple vulnerabilities in the economy.”

The decline was driven primarily by lower- and middle-income consumers, who reported heightened concerns about business conditions, labor markets and inflation. Perhaps most telling, consumers’ expectations about the future deteriorated more sharply than their assessment of current conditions, suggesting pessimism

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