The year 2025 is limping to the finish line with markets looking distinctly shaky. The artificial intelligence rally that powered much of the year is finally showing some cracks, with Oracle's data center issues grabbing headlines and making investors nervous. Add in a wobbly job market and declining economic sentiment, and you've got a recipe for uncertainty.

When the fundamental picture gets murky, traders often turn to technical analysis for clues about what might happen next. It's not that fundamentals like sales growth, earnings, and guidance don't matter. They absolutely do. But there's often a lag between when fundamental news breaks and when it actually shows up in stock prices.

Technical analysis takes a different approach entirely. Instead of poring over income statements and revenue projections, it looks at price patterns, trends, and momentum indicators to predict short-term movements. Think of it as reading the market's body language rather than listening to its words.

Today we're examining five stocks across different sectors and industries that are flashing troubling technical signals. Each has recently triggered bearish patterns that could either reverse soon or push prices even lower. Either way, these are worth watching as we head into the New Year.

Cabot Corp.: Running Into Resistance

Cabot Corp. (CBT) is a $3.5 billion chemicals and materials company that generates $3.7 billion in annual sales. The company operates globally, selling chemical products across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and North America. You'll find their products in everything from automotive applications to energy and consumer goods. Lately, analysts haven't been particularly enthusiastic about the stock. Zack's Research recently downgraded it to Strong Sell from Hold, and several firms have trimmed their price targets.

The technical picture isn't any prettier. The stock is battling one of the oldest concepts in technical analysis: resistance. CBT shares have been trending beneath both the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages, with the 50-day now sitting below the 200-day and acting as a ceiling on any rally attempts. The Relative Strength Index shows momentum deteriorating, which means that 11% gain over the past month might be more illusion than substance.

Here's the kicker: the stock has posted six consecutive down sessions. A reversal seems unlikely at this point, making a short position potentially attractive given both the fundamental headwinds and technical resistance.

CoreWeave Inc.: The Death Cross Cometh

CoreWeave (CRWV) was one of this summer's hottest IPOs, and for good reason. The stock launched at $40 and rocketed to $180 in just three months. CoreWeave provides cloud infrastructure for companies like NVIDIA and AMD that manufacture GPUs for AI data centers. At $26 billion, it still commands a hefty market cap, but the stock has cratered more than 40% over the past three months.

The problem? Growing concerns that AI capital spending may be cooling off. Management didn't help matters by lowering full-year revenue projections in the most recent earnings report. Now the technical picture is starting to confirm what the fundamentals are suggesting.

CoreWeave hasn't been publicly traded long enough for a 200-day moving average to be meaningful, but if we look at the 50-day and 100-day averages, we see one of technical analysis's most ominous patterns: the Death Cross. The 100-day moving average has dipped below the 50-day, signaling that the downtrend probably isn't finished. The MACD indicator is also showing bearish momentum reasserting itself, pointing to another leg down from here.

Equity Bancshares Inc.: Flying Too Close to the Sun

Now for something completely different. While everyone was talking about CoreWeave, almost nobody noticed Equity Bancshares (EQBK), a small-cap holding company for Equity Bank, a regional bank based in Kansas. Despite a market cap under $1 billion, the bank offers a full menu of services including traditional banking, wealth management, estate planning, and commercial loans.

Here's the interesting part: Equity Bancshares recently projected a decline in 2026 net interest margin in its Q4 2025 earnings release. Yet somehow the stock has surged 15% over the past month.

The daily chart suggests this rally might be unsustainable. While the stock has successfully broken above both the 50-day and 200-day moving averages, the RSI now sits at 77. That's firmly in extreme overbought territory, particularly for a bank stock, which typically don't exhibit that kind of momentum. With a headwind to net interest margins coming in 2026, this might be an excellent spot to lock in gains before reality catches up.

AMREP Corp.: Small Cap in Free Fall

AMREP Corp. (AXR) is the smallest company on our list, sporting a market cap of just $100 million and $45 million in annual sales. The Denver-based real estate company focuses on leasing and land sales to commercial clients across the western United States. Last week's fiscal Q2 2026 results were ugly: the company missed on both the top and bottom lines, with quarterly revenue plunging nearly 20% year-over-year.

Technical traders picked up on the deteriorating fundamentals quickly, sending the stock down 30% over the past three months. The momentum appears to be accelerating downward rather than stabilizing. A Death Cross formed earlier this month, with the MACD lines confirming the bearish signal with a cross of their own. This shaky small cap looks like it has more downside ahead.

Truist Financial Corp.: Time to Take Profits?

Truist Financial (TFC) is another bank stock where profit-taking might be the smart move after a strong run. Truist is one of the country's largest regional banks, with a $64 billion market cap and $24 billion in annual sales. The fundamentals actually look solid: the stock trades at just 12 times forward earnings with a price-to-book ratio of 1.15.

So why sell after a 12% gain over the past month? A combination of analyst downgrades and technical warning signs.

Baird downgraded TFC shares to Neutral from Outperform on December 11th, marking the second downgrade in the last quarter. The consensus rating is now Hold, with an average price target of $46.89 sitting below the current market price. Meanwhile, the RSI is screaming overbought at 76, with the price stalling out. When momentum indicators hit these extreme levels while the price stops advancing, it often signals an impending reversal. The upward momentum that drove this rally may be about exhausted.