Consumer Confidential: Higher spending, higher Chevron profit, higher pump prices

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Here’s your freak-out Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--Let’s give ourselves a pat on the back: We’re doing our share to get the economy up and running again. Consumer spending in the first quarter rose by the fastest pace in three years, according to the Commerce Department. This helped the economy grow by a fairly healthy 3.2%. Even so, economists say there’s a whole lot more healing to be done before we can declare the worst downturn since the Great Depression an unhappy memory.

--First it was our friends at Exxon Mobil Corp. reporting a big jump in quarterly profit. Now our pals at Chevron Corp. say their profit during the first three months more than doubled -- yup, you heard that right -- to $4.55 billion, its largest profit increase in at least a decade. Oil and natural gas production rose during the period, and prices for the commodities did too, adding up to seriously big bucks for the second-largest oil giant.

--Oh, and in case you were wondering, gas prices rose 3 cents over the last week to an average $2.881 nationwide, according to AAA. The only thing keeping gas prices from skyrocketing is high unemployment. ‘When job growth begins in a meaningful way, many anticipate it will portend an increase in oil and gasoline consumption as well,’ says Andrew Delmege, AAA’s manager of regulatory affairs. California’s average pump price now stands at $3.125. In Los Angeles, that figure is $3.110.

-- David Lazarus