By Deborah Levine
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Consumer spending rose 0.3% in February, compared to a revised 0.4% increase in January, the Commerce Department said on Monday. The same report showed personal income rose less than 0.1%, slower than the 0.3% pace the previous month. Real consumption, accounting for inflation effects, rose 0.3% last month. Personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income was 3.1% in February, compared with 3.4% in January. The personal consumption expenditures index, the Federal Reserve's favored measure of inflation, decreased less than 0.1% in February, compared to a 0.2% increase the prior month. Excluding food and energy, the core PCE index rose less than 0.1%.
