"What I think Fullermoney brings to the table that I have not really seen elsewhere is the combination of fundamental and technical, along with an open mind to include many links to other research sources and opinions, some of which are contrary to the F/M house view. That aggregation of ideas (plus useful feedback and questions from the 'collective') makes the service rather special.

"I do find the charts very helpful for tactical buying and selling (entry/exit points) - I overlay the 200 day MA over the 5 year chart. Those charts are also very handy for stocks that I know little about that clients ask about - eg Seadrill (SDRL) - a client asked me about that yesterday so at least I could point out it was trading above the 200 MA and currently reverting back to that MA, following a huge run up from $4 to $40 since late 2008.

"Meantime I despair of Sterling ever recovering against the AUD and NZD. It would be nice to know what David thinks of the medium to longer term (say 3 years plus) prospects for Sterling (GBP) to regain at least some lost ground versus the Australasian currencies? My UK listed investment trusts (including BRWM, RCP, IEM, ECWO, JII, BEE etc) are all looking pretty sick when translated back into NZD at a cross rate of 0.51 or so."

David Fuller's view Thanks you for your thoughtful feedback and interesting questions which will also be relevant to a number of other subscribers.

Your assessment of Seadrill for your client, shown here in Norwegian krone and last mentioned in Fullermoney by Eoin on 20th January 2012 during a review of the sector, shows the efficiency of chart-based assessments. They put you in the picture - literally and figuratively - helping you to ask relevant fundamental questions if further investigation is warranted. Being able to drill down into the fundamentals of a company of interest is important but how many shares can one cover in our vast global equity universe? Not that many, obviously, so we mostly need to rely on the fundamental analysis of sector specialists, if possible. However, we can conduct our own technical assessments as you did for your client.


Your questions on GBP/AUD and GBP/NZD over the next few years are very challenging, although I would not despair of sterling ever recovering. The triple waterfall of a financial crisis, burst property bubble and indebted economy at both governmental and household levels is inevitably very damaging for the UK. There is no quick recovery from this as you also saw with New Zealand's own and somewhat different economic crisis in the 1980s. To New Zealanders' credit, your economy eventually emerged from those difficult times stronger than ever before.

There is no inherent reason why the UK cannot do the same, although it will take time as there is also the impact of Europe's serious problems. Meanwhile, the markets are discounting mechanisms. The UK got its currency devaluation in early, as Fullermoney has often pointed out, and declines against the AUD and NZD have at least lost some downward momentum. Meanwhile, I think recoveries for the UK investment trusts mentioned above, in Antipodean currency terms, will depend more on sector specific factors. For instance, China-led global GDP growth is the key factor for industrial miners, while political governance is the main problem for India right now.