Do you think the news is at all useful or is looking at the chart the best way to go? I have the feeling that fundamental trading is a crowded trade.
Both are important! You can't have technicals without the fundamentals and vice versa. Fundamentals sets the stage for the trend and thereby the technicals start working off it. Trends start changing because of buyer exhaustion (or even more buyer bullishness) combined with fundamental changes in the company.
Case in point; Netflix's 100M movie, Bright was obliterated by the critics and there was so much negativity for Netlflix with Disney's acquisition of FOX. But, most traders watched Bright and saw that this was a brilliant way to enter into a franchise theme breaking away from Marvel (Disney) or Lord of the Rings (Amazon). This is basic fundamental analysis, stocks on the products that we use everyday. Market turned bullish on Netflix again.
A prolonged series of bad fundamental news however, will affect the trend of the stock. Take CMG and GE for eg.
Use fundamentals to invest and use technicals to enter / stay or exit / average down from the trade.