Consumers spent at a slower than expected pace in February, though underlying readings indicated that sales still grew at a solid pace despite worries over an economic slowdown and rising inflation.

Retail sales increased 0.2% on the month, better than the downwardly revised decline of 1.2% the prior month but below the Dow Jones estimate for a 0.6% increase, according to the advanced reading Monday from the Commerce Department. Excluding autos, the increase was 0.3%, in line with expectations.

The so-called control group, which strips out non-core sectors and feeds directly into gross domestic product calculations, rose a better than expected 1%.

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