At a two-day meeting that ended yesterday, the U.S. Federal Reserve decided once again to leave its key rate unchanged, keeping it at zero. The news justified the decision. The news justified expectations of most analysts and market players. At the same time, the regulator announced its plans to start scaling down economic stimulus in the near future. winding down economic stimulus - earlier than expected. There was optimism at the U.S. and European stock exchanges, waiting for the results. indices had been showing positive dynamics even before the results were announced. The U.S. and European stock exchanges were optimistic in anticipation of the results, as indices were already positive before the announcement. The stock exchanges in the US, Canada and Europe finished yesterday on the plus side. On the US indices the increase during the day exceeded 1.2%, on the European ones it reached 1.47%. On the U.S. trading floors the increase during the day exceeded 1.2% and reached 1.47% on the European ones. Gold prices rose for the fourth session in a row yesterday amid The prices of gold rose for the fourth session in a row yesterday amid optimistic moods of players on the eve of the decision. By the end of troy ounce of the precious metal on the Comex exchange rose by 0.26% to $1,779.40. On Monday and Tuesday, its daily gain was 0.51% - 0,72%.