The S&P 500 is back near record highs. Are earnings really enough to justify it?

The S&P 500 has climbed back to record highs, and Q2 earnings have come in stronger than I expected. At the same time, the market is still trading at around 20.4x forward earnings, and Treasury yields are high enough that investors have a real alternative to stocks.

That's what makes this interesting to me. It's not just a question of whether the market is expensive or not. It's whether companies can keep growing earnings fast enough to support these valuations.