By CCN.com: The US stock market stormed into recovery mode on Thursday afternoon after President Donald Trump revealed that he remains optimistic about the odds of the US-China trade deal that increasingly appears to have slipped from the administration’s grasp.

Stock Market Bounces Back from Brutal Decline

All of Wall Street’s major indices bounced back from brutal intraday lows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered more than 200 points to 25,778.69, though the DJI remained 188.64. points or 0.73% in the red after plunging more than 400 points earlier in the session.

The S&P 500 clawed back to 2,865.98 for a loss of 0.47%, and the Nasdaq recovered to 7,900.29 for a loss of 0.55%.

The CBOE VIX, which measures stock market volatility, fell 0.52% to 19.3. The VIX had surged as high as 23.38 following the opening bell.

Trump: ‘Our Alternative Is an Excellent One’

The sudden recovery came after President Trump told reporters that the White House had prepared an “excellent” alternative to a formal US-China trade agreement and delivered assurances that he believed a deal remained within reach.

“They’ll see what they can do,” Trump said. “But our alternative is an excellent one.”

“It’s an alternative I’ve spoken about for years. We’ll take in well over a hundred billion dollars a year. We never took in 10 cents from China,” Trump said, referencing his plan to ramp up tariffs. “And I think it’ll be a very strong day, frankly. But we’ll see.”

Just one day prior, Trump rocked Wall Street when he seethed that China “broke the deal” at a rally in Panama City, Florida. The comment rippled throughout the stock market, sending the Dow and its peers deep into the red.

‘It Was Their Idea to Come Back’

President Trump plans to have dinner with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He this evening, just hours before the US will allegedly slap enhanced tariffs on Chinese imports.

The White House set that deadline after Beijing reportedly eviscerated a 150-page draft trade agreement, the result of months of painstaking negotiations.

Ahead of that 12:01 am ET deadline, Trump revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping had sent him a letter affirming his optimism about the negotiations and that the two leaders will likely speak by phone.

“It was their idea to come back,” Trump said.