Stocks held steady on Monday as investors looked ahead to a key meeting between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at this week's G-20 summit.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just 8.41 points higher at 26,727.54, while the slid 0.2% to 2,945.35. The Nasdaq Composite closed 0.3% lower at 8,005.70.

Trump and Xi are expected to discuss the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China at the summit, which is set to start Friday in Osaka, Japan. Investors are hopeful the two leaders will get closer to a deal that will end the conflict.

"What we probably see is them having talks to have talks about trade. Perhaps the market is OK with that, but our feeling is the rhetoric we're getting out of China — and Chinese media, in particular — has become much more hard-lined," said Mona Mahajan, U.S. investment strategist at AllianzGI. "There is real pushback from the Communist Party; they don't want the U.S. and President Trump to interfere in their political and ideological systems.

"It feels like the likelihood of them coming together for a deal is pretty de minimis at this point. But the idea that the whole thing doesn't collapse is, I guess, a positive for the market."

China and the U.S. have slapped tariffs on billions of dollars worth of their goods over the past year. Last month, the two countries hiked tariffs targeting some goods.