Investors are willing to take low earnings and no dividends on the assumption that increases in stock prices will compensate them. The investors believe that the stock market giveth but never taketh away. The man on the green horse will always ride up, buy futures contracts, and then disappear into the night without selling his contracts, despite massive profits. It's nice to have a buyer of last resort whenever the stock market tanks. It's especially nice in a Presidential election year.
Recessions eventually arrive.
They are preceded by stock market reversals. These reversals take place about six months before the recession hits. The election is seven months away. I keep wondering if Bush will win, only to head into recession. That would not be good for the Republican Congress in 2002.