Newell-Rubbermaid sinks to 17-year low

Consumer-maker Newell-Rubbermaid Inc. shares sank to a 17-year low on Friday, continuing an extended slide amid a difficult environment.

Shares of the Atlanta-based maker of Sharpie pens and Rubbermaid kitchen accessories fell 39 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $16.90 during afternoon trading after hitting a low of $16.85 earlier. The stock had traded between $17.29 and $29.88 during the past 52 weeks, but reached its previous low a day earlier on Thursday. The last time the stock traded that low was in 1991.

Shares are down 33 percent since the beginning of the year.

Consumer-products makers are suffering from rising raw material and fuel costs. In another blow, Dow Chemical Co. this week announced its second set of wide-ranging price hikes in less than a month.

When Dow raises prices, the increase is felt across dozens of industries that buy its chemicals and plastics to manufacture products ranging from diapers to automobiles.

On Wednesday, Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Schmitz Jr. said in a note to investors that he estimates the company will have to pay for $95 million of resin inflation over the next year, but is only likely to recover half of that through price increases.

He kept his "Buy" rating on the stock however. "This is a well run business in a bad cycle," he wrote.