Economic growth cooled in the first quarter as businesses cut back on investment and restocked shelves at a slower pace, but stronger demand for automobiles softened the blow, Reuters reported.

Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said this morning in its advance estimate, moderating from the fourth quarter’s 3 percent rate.

Though that was below economists’ expectations for a 2.5 percent pace, a surge in consumer spending took some of the sting from the report and growth was still stronger than analysts’ predictions early in the quarter for an expansion below 1.5 percent.

“There’s nothing catastrophic happening; this is just slow growth and this underscores that the economy is on sound footing but nothing more,” said Steven Baffico, chief executive at Four Wood Capital Partners LLC in New York.

Although the details were mixed, the GDP report offered a somewhat better picture compared with the fourth quarter, when inventory building accounted for nearly two-thirds of the economy’s growth. In the first quarter, demand from consumers took up the slack.

Consumer spending which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, increased at a 2.9 percent rate, the fastest pace since the fourth quarter of 2010. That compares with a 2.1 percent rise in the fourth quarter. But business spending fell for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2009, with investment in equipment and software rising at its slowest pace since the recession ended.