Rydex Investments is pitching its new sector exchange-traded funds as straightforward offerings that do not make other value judgments. The ETFs are based on Standard & Poor's indexes which weight companies equally across the index, rather than by market capitalization. Other firms, including WisdomTree Investments and PowerShares Capital Management have recently launched similar sector ETFs, but those ETFs use specific criteria such as dividends and cash flow in their weightings. Steve Sachs, director of trading at Rydex, said the messages coming from the ETF market are "getting complicated" but that Rydex's equal weight offerings were a simple idea for investors to grasp. The ETFs, which were launched last Tuesday, rebalance every three months.

David Blitzer, managing director and chairman of the index committee at Standard & Poor's, said the Rydex ETFs are different from other ETFs not based on market-cap weighted indexes, which he said have taken on more actively managed characteristics.

Rydex filed for the sector ETFs in August (www.fundaction.com, 8/25). The ETFs cover consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financial services, healthcare, industrial, basic materials, technology and utilities.