the german share price index dax graph is pictured at the stock exchange in frankfurt germany august 31 2022 reutersstaff sept 1 reuters  the main european stocks index skidded to its lowest in seven weeks in a rough start to september on deepening worries about aggressive rate hikes and recordhigh inflation in the region the paneuropean stoxx 600 stoxx shed 14 in early deals as all sectors traded lower with the index headed lower for a fifth straight day ratesensitive tech stocks sx8p were the biggest decliners with a 18 fall banks sx7p which tend to benefit from higher interest rates were also down but by the smallest margin among the main sectors euro zone manufacturing activity shrank for a second month in august according to a survey that showed weak demand meant factories were unable to sell as much as they made and built up stocks of finished goods at a record pace that followed data on wednesday showing regional inflation had risen to another record high last month ahead of an upcoming european central bank policy meeting next week read more the economic situation in the euro area continues to deteriorate going into the meeting with clear signs that growth is slowing due to the spike in energy prices resulting from the ukraine conflict morgan stanley strategists wrote in a note money markets priced in a roughly 80 chance for a 75 basis point ecb rate hike in september following the wednesday data up from a just over a 50 chance earlier given policymakers modus operandi on either side of the atlantic clearly favours erring on the side of hawkish  even at the expense of recession it seems hard to envision the ecb opting not to deliver such an outsized move said rabobank strategists richard mcguire and lyn grahamtaylor adding to the gloom one of chinas biggest cities chengdu announced a lockdown as it launched four days of citywide covid19 testing read more chinaexposed miners sxpp plunged 33 to lead european losses as metals prices tumbled while luxury stocks also came under pressure loiusvuitton owner lvmh lvmhpa kering prtppa and hermes hrmspa were down between 22 and 23 among other stocks germanys lufthansa lhagde fell 27 after a pilots trade union announced a strike set to begin friday as the two parties failed to reach an agreement on wages read more reckitt benckiser rktl fell 42 after announcing that chief executive laxman narasimhan will step down at the end of september after three years in the role read more in a rare bright spot german retail sales rose unexpectedly in july up 19 on the month as online retail and the food sector showed recovery data showed analysts had predicted sales would stagnate reporting by anisha sircar in bengaluru editing by saumyadeb chakrabarty