(Repeats, without changes, story first published on Friday)
* Fears of feedback loop from weaker manufacturing sector
* Europe's firms derive some 15-20 pct of sales from U.S.
* Risk is of a series of hikes outpacing market expectations
* Weaker euro helps keep hopes of a profit recovery alive
* But recent market volatility suggests more fragile mood
By Lionel Laurent
LONDON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - With the first U.S. interest-rate hike in a decade widely expected within days, investors are questioning whether European stock markets can withstand the aftershocks.
While European firms have benefited from extra monetary stimulus from the European Central Bank and expectations of a domestic earnings recovery, they derive some 15 to 20 percent of revenues from a U.S. economy whose manufacturing sector is showing signs of weakness.
If that is exacerbated by tightening liquidity and an end to years of easy credit, Europe is unlikely to be immune; investment bank Goldman Sachs says European equities are already "fully valued" due to excitement over the ECB's commitment to monetary easing.
"The U.S. economy is not in bad shape but not in extraordinary shape either ... Companies that depend on U.S. capital expenditure and the manufacturing sector are suffering," said Emmanuel Cau, strategist at JPMorgan.
To be sure, plenty of investment banks and fund managers are betting that European equities overall are still recovering and that ECB stimulus will help to power an earnings recovery next year.
However, truly domestic European companies are in the minority and investors fear that any faster-than-expected tightening of U.S. monetary policy into 2016 will lead to a re-think of stretched stock-market valuations.
"Many European companies are international and so the global impact of tightening U.S. liquidity will reverberate on European markets," said Cau.
Top European stocks in terms of sales exposure to the United States include equipment rental company Ashtead Group, drugmaker Shire, eyewear company Luxottica and aerospace firm Meggitt, according to MSCI data that uses both estimates and company statements.
Company newsflow has been mixed: while Ashtead recently raised its outlook and Luxottica reported robust U.S. sales, UK group Bunzl blamed U.S. weakness for a revenue slowdown in the first half of the year. Wolseley's U.S. industrial business also recently disappointed.
This gap may also reflect the divide between the consumer and industrial sectors. OECD industrial production has contracted sharply, according to Goldman Sachs, citing "particularly severe" U.S. weakness with nearly the widest gap between manufacturing and non-manufacturing business surveys on record.