David Prosser: Buffett is definitely back

Outlook: Mr Buffett called the bottom of the market at the end of February

Good to see that financial crisis and global depression have not blown one market off course. Bidding opened yesterday in the annual charity auction held by Warren Buffett – the Sage of Omaha is once again offering a prize of his attendance at a lunch for eight at a New York steakhouse – and was brisk from the start.

Four hours in, the top bid had already reached $35,000, with investors confidently predicting a seven-figure payday for the Glide Foundation, Mr Buffett's chosen charity, by the close of play on Friday (the big spenders tend to be last-minute bidders). Last year's winning bid of $2.1m may not be bettered, but that was three times the size of the previous record.

Cynics may wonder why Mr Buffett's company is deemed so valuable. Fund management is, after all, a world in which you are only as good as your last return and the great man's Berkshire Hathaway posted its worst-ever performance in 2008.

Still, it looks like the comeback has begun. Mr Buffett called the bottom of the market at the end of February – to be precise he said that he and partner Charlie Munger felt "like two hungry mosquitoes in a nudist camp: juicy targets are everywhere" – which was just about spot on.