Stocks end mixed, S&P 500 pulls out of four-day funk

The S&P 500 snapped a four-session losing streak Tuesday while stocks ended mixed overall as investors paused after a big stock rally due to angst related to slowing global growth, a coming rate hike and high valuations.

Wall Street pros are still adjusting to the prospect of the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates for the first time since 2006, at a time when global growth is slowing despite an employment rebound in the U.S.

The stock market, after rallying more than 12% off its August lows is now taking a pause, as investors price in higher rates and take note of rising price-to-earnings ratios for the broad market since the rally began.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index is now trading at roughly 17.7 times its 2015 earnings, which is a full point above its 16.7 P-E ratio at the market low in August and nearly as high as the 17.9 market multiple at the market's record peak back in May.

Market volatility ticks up ahead of coming rate hike

Ending up on Tuesday were the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones industrial average, which gained 0.2% apiece. The Nasdaq composite moved 0.2% in the other direction.

Stocks, of course, suffered a big sell-off Monday, as traders reacted to a coming rate hike after Friday's strong October jobs report boosted the odds of a Fed rate hike at its December meeting. Weak data in China Monday and weak inflation data in mainland China today is also weighing on investor sentiment.

On Monday, the Dow tumbled nearly 180 points, or 1%, its worst one-day point drop since a 313-point plunge on Sept. 28.

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Stocks around the globe were also soft Tuesday. In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was down 0.3% and the CAC 40 in Paris was down less than 0.1%. Germany's DAX index was up 0.2%

In Asia, Japany's Nikkei 225 gained 0.2%, but shares were down 1.4% in Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and 0.2% lower in mainland China's Shanghai composite.

Adam Shell on Twitter: @adamshell.