The US Securities and Exchange Commission wants to require US-listed companies to explain their share buyback philosophies more clearly to their shareholders. Warren Buffett has already done so, at the multi-billionaire investor’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting in Omaha.

He and his partner Charlie Munger fielded questions as usual about Berkshire’s capital allocation choices. For the first time in more than a quarter of a century, however, US base interest rates have rocketed to more than 5 per cent. Despite the usual questions about what to do with Berkshire’s cash balance — now up to $131bn — the opportunity cost on deploying that cash was finally meaningful.

Buffett notably said he believed that Berkshire shares were cheap. That might confuse the average investor given that its market capitalisation of more than $700bn exceeds by about 40 per cent its book value or accounting value of equity. Nevertheless, in the first quarter, Berkshire bought back $4.4bn of its stock.