U.S. stocks dropped as investors weighed President Donald Trump’s upbeat commentary about a new China trade deal against the prospect of new tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports set to take effect at the end of the day.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.3%, or 8.71 points, as of market close. The Dow (^DJI) dropped 0.53%, or 138.84 points, but bounced back from being down as many as 450 points earlier in the session. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) fell 0.41%, or 32.73points.

Equity losses became shallower Thursday afternoon after Trump told reporters he believes he has an “excellent” alternative to a trade deal with China, according to a CNBC report.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump tweeted that he intended to raise the rate of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports to 25%, and impose that same rate of taxes on an additional $325 billion worth of goods. The unexpected threat of escalation generated a whirlwind of volatility in markets, and was reportedly spurred by Beijing’s last-minute reneging on a slew of key parts of the working trade deal.

The new tariffs will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, the U.S. and Chinese delegations are scheduled to continue trade talks in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.

However, the prospects of the U.S. and Chinese delegations reaching a deal before the deadline has so far looked dim. During a rally in Florida Wednesday night, Trump said that China “broke the deal” with the U.S., and that “they’ll be paying.” China’s Commerce Ministry said on Wednesday that the country is prepared to take “necessary countermeasures” to retaliate in the event that the U.S. implements additional tariffs.

STOCKS

Uber (UBER) is set to price its initial public offering Thursday after market close, with shares then to begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange Friday. The no. 1 ride-hailing giant’s stock offering comes on the heels of a sudden stock market drop this week and a disappointing public debut by peer ride-hailing company Lyft (LYFT), which has seen its shares fall more than 25% from its IPO price over the past month. As of Wednesday, Uber was reportedly looking to price its IPO at or below the midpoint of its targeted range of between $44 and $50 per share.

Chevron (CVX) announced Thursday that it will not increase its offer price to acquire Anadarko (APC), effectively ending the jockey between it and Occidental (OXY) for control of the company with deep inroads to the oil-rich Permian Basin. Earlier this week, Occidental bumped up the cash portion of its bid to acquire Anadarko for an offering totaling $76 per share, outpacing the about $62 per share cash-and-stock offer from Chevron, based on Monday’s closing prices. Occidental was also backed with a $10 billion investment from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to help fund the offering.