Direxion Nasdaq-100 ETF Due Out Wednesday (AAPL, QQQ, QQQE)

Direxion, the second-largest purveyor of leveraged and inverse ETFs, will introduce the Direxion NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares QQQE on Wednesday March 21, 2012. The new ETF will be Direxion's sixth plain vanilla offering. QQQE will track the track the NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index, an equal-weight version of the Nasdaq 100. The dominant Nasdaq 100 ETF to this point has been the PowerShares QQQ QQQ, the sixth-largest U.S.-listed ETF by assets. The new Direxion offering will have an expense ratio of 0.40%. Clearly what will be interesting to see about the Direxion NASDAQ-100 Equal Weighted Index Shares is how the ETF performs in an environment where Apple AAPL is surging and driving the tech sector's returns. The Guggenheim S&P Equal Weight Technology ETF RYT is one equal-weight tech ETF that has done well for itself. RYT has almost $138 million in assets under management and the fund is up almost 16% year-to-date, but with an allocation to Apple of just 1.51%, RYT has been outperformed by QQQ and the Technology Select Sector SPDR XLK. QQQ's current weight to Apple is 18.77%, making the fund one of the more popular destinations for investors looking to get some Apple exposure via ETFs. Obviously, the new Direxion will not feature such a large allocation to Apple and that could be important in the fund's attempts to attract investor assets and decent trading volume.