No one seems to have proposed that it could have been magnetic and it interacted with Earth's magnetic field.
While you're at it, watch this, it's fun (and related): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sENgdSF8ppA
A compass needle is easily moveable by hand. Even Lenz effect forces (when only driven by magnets) are weaker than the attraction forces of the same magnet (depending on the speed, of course) though going east->west the flux doesn't change much.
So my conclusion is that, even though it might have had a small effect on it, absolutely not enough to make it change velocity significantly.