Oil prices hit a five-week high today, with the contract for June delivery closing above $54 a barrel. Positive economic data coupled with strength in the equity markets are driving up the price.

This is confounding analysts Bloomberg interviewed. Three different guys all said the same thing: "There's a lot of oil out there, so the price shouldn't be rising."

The reason oil might be lifting, unrelated to supply, is that we're entering a new period where the market is more important than supply, because we might be past peak oil, as noted by a Raymond James analyst today.

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