The price of oil closed below $50 Tuesday for the first time in weeks on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The closing price in trading Tuesday, Nov. 2, was $49.62. At one point during the past month, the price of oil closed above $55.

However, some analysts quoted in media reports said the drop may not indicate a trend. Many of the factors that drove the price of oil up – such as supply problems in Iraq, instability in nations such as Nigeria, a slow return to normal in the hurricane-ravaged Gulf of Mexico and problems between the massive Russian oil corporation, Yukos – were all still in place Tuesday.