All smart investors do some form of due diligence before making any investment or trade. Fundamental analysis involves evaluating an investment on the merits of its balance sheet, products, supply and demand, and the economic climate. The charts do not cause the market to go up or down. They simply reflect the market's perception of the fundamentals. In essence, it is a matter of cause and effect.
Fundamental analysis seeks to interpret cause, while technical analysis interprets effect.
The fact that XYZ's earnings continue to grow is the fundamental cause for higher stock prices while the actual price range in which XYZ finds support and resistance is the effect. Prices move in trends, and these trends tend to continue in the same direction for extended periods of time. The technician, through the use of charts and other indicators, attempts to identify these trends. Every investor has a price at which he becomes concerned about continued ownership of his stock and decides to sell. When enough investors have a similar price in mind, there are more sellers than buyers in the market and the price of the stock will fall.