Rydex Precious Metals Fund (RYPMX) N-CSRSCertified semi-annual shareholder report (management investment company)

UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM N-CSR

CERTIFIED SHAREHOLDER REPORT OF REGISTERED MANAGEMENT
INVESTMENT COMPANIES

Investment Company Act file number 811- 07584

Rydex Series Funds
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)

702 King Farm Boulevard, Suite 200
Rockville, Maryland 20850
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

Amy J. Lee

Rydex Series Funds
702 King Farm Boulevard, Suite 200
Rockville, Maryland 20850
(Name and address of agent for service)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (301) 296-5100

Date of fiscal year end: March 31

Date of reporting period: April 1, 2023 – September 30, 2023

Item 1. Reports to Stockholders.

The registrant’s semi-annual report transmitted to shareholders pursuant to Rule 30e-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), is as follows:

9.30.2023

Rydex Funds Semi-Annual Report

Dear Shareholder:

Security Investors, LLC (the “Investment Adviser”) is pleased to present the semi-annual shareholder report for a selection of our Alternatives Funds and International Equity Funds and one of our Fixed Income Funds (each, a “Fund” and collectively, the “Funds”) for the six-month period ended September 30, 2023 (the “Reporting Period”).

The Investment Adviser is a part of Guggenheim Investments, which represents the investment management businesses of Guggenheim Partners, LLC (“Guggenheim”), a global, diversified financial services firm.

Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC is the distributor of the Funds. Guggenheim Funds Distributors, LLC is affiliated with Guggenheim and the Investment Adviser.

We encourage you to read the Economic and Market Overview section of the report, which follows this letter.

We are committed to providing innovative investment solutions and appreciate the trust you place in us.

Sincerely,

Security Investors, LLC

October 31, 2023

Read a prospectus and summary prospectus (if available) carefully before investing. It contains the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information, which should be considered carefully before investing. Obtain a prospectus and summary prospectus (if available) at guggenheiminvestments.com or call 800.820.0888.

This material is not intended as a recommendation or as investment advice of any kind, including in connection with rollovers, transfers, and distributions. Such material is not provided in a fiduciary capacity, may not be relied upon for or in connection with the making of investment decisions, and does not constitute a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell securities. All content has been provided for informational or educational purposes only and is not intended to be and should not be construed as legal or tax advice and/or a legal opinion. Always consult a financial, tax and/or legal professional regarding your specific situation.

The Long Short Equity Fund is subject to a number of risks and is not suitable for all investors. ●The Fund is subject to the risk that the Advisor’s use of a momentum-driven investment strategy may cause the Fund to underperform other types of mutual funds that use different investment strategies during periods when momentum investing is out of favor. ●It is possible that the stocks the Fund holds long will decline in value at the same time that the stocks or indices being shorted increase in value, thereby increasing potential losses to the Fund. ●The Fund’s loss on a short sale is potentially unlimited because there is no upper limit on the price a borrowed security could attain. ● The more the Fund invests in leveraged instruments, the more the leverage will magnify any gains or losses on those investments. ●The use of derivatives, such as futures, options and swap agreements, may expose the Fund to additional risks that it would not be subject to if it invested directly in the securities underlying those derivatives. ●The Fund may invest in American Depositary Receipts (“ADRs”) therefore subjecting the value of the Fund’s portfolio to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. ●This Fund is considered non-diversified and can invest a greater portion of its assets in securities of individual issuers than a diversified fund. As a result, changes in the market value of a single security could cause greater fluctuations in the value of Fund shares than would occur in a more diversified fund. Please read the prospectus for more detailed information regarding these and other risks.

The Emerging Markets 2x Strategy Fund and Inverse Emerging Markets 2x Strategy Fund are not suitable for all investors. ● The Funds should be utilized only by investors who (a) understand the risks associated with the use of leverage, (b) understand the consequences of seeking daily leveraged investment results, (c) understand the risk of shorting, and (d) intend to actively monitor and manage their investments. ● The more a Fund invests in leveraged instruments, the more the leverage will magnify any gains or losses on those investments. ● Investments in the Inverse Emerging Markets 2x Strategy Fund involve certain risks, which include increased volatility due to the Funds’ use of short sales of securities and derivatives, such as options and futures. ● The Funds’ use of derivatives, such as futures, options and swap agreements, may expose the Funds’ shareholders to additional risks that they would not be subject to if they invested directly in the securities underlying those derivatives. ● Short-selling involves increased risks and costs. You risk paying more for a security than you received from its sale. ●The Funds seek to provide investment results that match the performance of a specific benchmark, before fees and expenses, on a daily basis. Because the Funds seek to track the performance of their benchmark on a daily basis, mathematical compounding may prevent the Funds from correlating with the monthly, quarterly, annual or other period performance of its benchmark. Due to the compounding of daily returns, the Funds’ returns over periods other than one day will likely differ in amount and possibly direction from the benchmark return for the same period. The value of the Funds’ shares will tend to increase or decrease more than the value of any increase or decrease in their benchmark index. The Funds rebalance their portfolios on a daily basis, increasing exposure in response to that day’s gains or reducing exposure in response to that day’s losses. Daily rebalancing will impair a Fund’s performance if the benchmark experiences volatility. Investors should monitor their holdings in the Funds consistent with their strategies, as frequently as daily. ● The Funds’ investments in developed and emerging foreign markets may increase the Funds’ volatility due to the impact of diplomatic, political or economic developments on the country in question. ● Additionally, the Funds’ direct and indirect exposure to foreign currencies subjects the Funds to the risk that those currencies

will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, or, in the case of short positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currencies. A Fund’s investment in the securities of non-U.S. companies in the form of American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) poses special risks associated with international investing, including fluctuating exchange rates, government regulations and differences in liquidity, which may affect the volatility and performance of a fund. ● Please read the prospectus for more detailed information regarding these and other risks.

The Emerging Markets Bond Strategy Fund is subject to a number of risks and is not suitable for all investors. Investments in securities, in general, are subject to market risks that may cause their prices to fluctuate over time. An investment in the Fund may lose money. ● The Fund’s investments in bonds and financial instruments that in combination have economic characteristics similar to emerging markets bonds carries additional risks when compared to investing in U.S. securities, due to the impact of diplomatic, political or economic developments in the country in question. ● The Fund’s investments in derivatives, including credit default swaps, may pose risks in addition to those associated with investing directly in securities or other investments, including illiquidity of the derivatives, imperfect correlations with underlying investments or the Fund’s other portfolio holdings, lack of availability and counterparty risk. To the extent the Fund invests in derivatives to seek to hedge risk or limit leveraged exposure created by other investments, there is no guarantee that such hedging strategies will be effective at managing risk or limiting exposure to leveraged investments. ● The Fund’s exposure to high yield securities may subject the Fund to greater volatility. ● The Fund’s market value will change in response to interest rate changes and market conditions among other factors. In general, bond prices rise when interest rates fall and vice versa. ● The Fund’s investments in bank obligations may expose it to adverse developments in or related to the banking industry. ● The Fund’s use of leverage will exaggerate the effect on net asset value of any increase or decrease in the market value of the Fund’s portfolio. ● The Fund’s indirect and direct exposure to foreign currencies subjects the Fund to the risk that those currencies will decline in value relative to the U.S. dollar, or, in the case of short positions, that the U.S. dollar will decline in value relative to the currency being hedged. ● The Fund’s investments in other investment vehicles subject the Fund to those risks and expenses affecting the investment vehicle. ● Please read the prospectus for more detailed information regarding these and other risks.

Faced with a series of strong economic data releases, the market increasingly appears to be coming to the conclusion that the economy is structurally better able to withstand higher interest rates than it really is. This dynamic can be seen by examining the move in Treasury yields, with the sell-off almost entirely being due to real yields rather than inflation expectations, and with the move most pronounced at the long end of the yield curve. Digging further, however, a large portion of this shift is due to a rising term premium (the premium for unknown and unquantified risks in the future, beyond current assumptions on the path of inflation or policy rates), which is indicating greater uncertainty about the outlook.

Many forecasters are extrapolating the current year’s economic strength without recognizing the fact that growth has benefited from a number of factors this year that are unlikely to be repeated, namely an expansion of the fiscal deficit, a slowdown in inflation, and a rebound in labor supply. As these factors fade, the headwinds from tight monetary policy may be more apparent and pronounced. And the longer monetary conditions stay tight, the greater the risk of something breaking (banks and commercial real estate remain key risks). All of this suggests that the recent economic trajectory cannot be assumed to continue, especially given the substantial restraint that could be imposed by the recent rise in long-term borrowing costs.

Uncertainty is elevated given the diverging signals in the data and the fact that many traditional economic models are not “working” as they traditionally would. This uncertainty extends to the U.S. Federal Reserve, which looks set to hold off on further rate hikes while it waits to see if the data start to align with the softening conditions policymakers say they are hearing on the ground. We continue to think the gravitational pull of tight money and credit conditions could result in a slowing economy and cooler inflation over the next year, paving the way for more rate cuts than the market presently expects.

For the Reporting Period, the S&P 500^® Index* returned 5.18%. The MSCI Europe-Australasia-Far East (“EAFE”) Index* returned -1.28%. The return of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index* was -2.05%.

In the bond market, the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index* posted a -4.05% return for the Reporting Period, while the Bloomberg U.S. Corporate High Yield Index* returned 2.21%. The return of the ICE Bank of America (“BofA”) 3-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index* was 2.51% for the Reporting Period.

The opinions and forecasts expressed may not actually come to pass. This information is subject to change at any time, based on market and other conditions, and should not be construed as a recommendation of any specific security or strategy.

*Index Definitions:

The following indices are referenced throughout this report. Indices are unmanaged and not available for direct investment. Index performance does not reflect transaction costs, fees, or expenses.

Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index is a broad-based flagship benchmark that measures the investment grade, U.S. dollar-denominated, fixed-rate taxable bond market, including U.S. Treasuries, government-related and corporate securities, mortgage-backed securities or “MBS”(agency fixed-rate and hybrid adjustable-rate mortgage, or “ARM”, pass-throughs), asset-backed securities (“ABS”), and commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) (agency and non-agency).

Bloomberg U.S. Corporate High Yield Index measures the U.S. dollar-denominated, high yield, fixed-rate corporate bond market. Securities are classified as high yield if the middle rating of Moody’s, Fitch, and S&P is Ba1/BB +/BB + or below.

ICE BofA 3-Month U.S. Treasury Bill Index is an unmanaged market Index of U.S. Treasury securities maturing in 90 days that assumes reinvestment of all income.

ICE BofA BBB & Lower Sovereign USD External Debt Index tracks the performance of U.S. dollar-denominated emerging market and crossover sovereign debt publicly issued in the eurobond or U.S. domestic market. Qualifying countries must have a BBB1 or lower foreign currency long-term sovereign debt rating (based on an average of Moody’s, S&P and Fitch). Countries that are not rated, or that are rated “D” or “SD” by one or several rating agencies qualify for inclusion in the index but individual non-performing securities are removed. Qualifying securities must have at least one year remaining term to final maturity, at least 18 months to maturity at point of issuance, a fixed or floating coupon and a minimum amount outstanding of $250 million. Local currency debt is excluded from the Index. Index constituents are capitalization-weighted based on their current amount outstanding times the market price plus accrued interest.

Morningstar Long/Short Equity Category Average represents long-short portfolios which hold sizable stakes in both long and short positions in equities and related derivatives. Some funds that fall into this category will shift their exposure to long and short positions depending on their macro outlook or the opportunities they uncover through bottom-up research. Some funds may simply hedge long stock positions through exchange traded funds or derivatives. At least 75% of the assets are in equity securities or derivatives.

MSCI EAFE Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization index that is designed to measure the equity market performance of developed markets, excluding the U.S. & Canada.

MSCI Emerging Markets Index is a free float-adjusted market capitalization weighted index that is designed to measure equity market performance in the global emerging markets.

S&P Emerging 50 ADR Index is capitalization-weighted and designed to track the performance of approximately 50 emerging market-based depositary receipts.

S&P 500^® Index is a broad-based index, the performance of which is based on the performance of 500 widely held common stocks chosen for market size, liquidity, and industry group representation.

The Rydex Emerging Markets 2x Strategy Fund and the Rydex Inverse Emerging Markets 2x Strategy Fund are benchmarked daily to leveraged and/or inverse leveraged versions of published indices. To properly evaluate the performance of these Funds, it is essential to understand the effect of mathematical compounding on their respective returns.

Because of the non-linear effects of leverage applied over time, it is possible for a fund to perform in-line with its benchmark for several individual periods in a row, yet seem to trail the benchmark over the entire period on a cumulative basis. It is also possible that a fund that performs in-line with its benchmark on a daily basis may seem to outperform its benchmark over longer periods.

An Example of Compounding

For example, consider a hypothetical fund that is designed to produce returns that correspond to 150% of an index. On the first day of a period, the index rises from a level of 100 to a level of 106, producing a 6.0% gain and an expectation that the fund will rise by 9.0%. On the same day, the fund’s net asset value per share (“NAV”) increases from $10.00 to $10.90 for a gain of 9.0% — in line with its benchmark.

On day two, assume the index falls from 106 to 99 for a loss of about 6.6%. The fund, as expected, falls 9.9% to a price of $9.82. On each day, the fund performed exactly in line with its benchmark, but for the two-day period, the fund was down 1.8%, while the index was down only 1.0%. Without taking into account the daily compounding of returns, one would expect the fund to lose 1.5% and would see the fund as trailing by 0.3% when in fact it had performed perfectly. This example is summarized in the table below.

As illustrated by this simple example, the effect of leverage can make it difficult to form expectations or judgments about fund performance given only the returns of the unleveraged index.

Because certain funds seek to track the performance of their benchmark on a daily basis, mathematical compounding, especially with respect to those funds that use leverage as part of their investment strategy, may prevent a fund from correlating with the monthly, quarterly, annual or other period performance of its benchmark. Due to the compounding of daily returns, leveraged and inverse funds’ returns over periods other than a single day will likely differ in amount and possibly direction from the benchmark return for the same period. Investors should monitor their leveraged and inverse funds’ holdings to ensure that they are consistent with their strategies, as frequently as daily. For those funds that consistently apply leverage, the value of the fund’s shares will tend to increase or decrease more than the value of any increase or decrease in its benchmark index. For more information on compounding, leverage and other risks, please read the prospectus.

In general, any change in direction in the performance of an index will produce compounding that seems to work against an investor. Were the index to move in the same direction (either up or down) for two or more periods in a row, the compounding of those returns would work in an investor’s favor, causing the fund to seemingly beat its benchmark.

As a general rule of thumb, more leverage in a fund will magnify the compounding effect, while less leverage will generally produce results that are more in line with expectations. In addition, periods of high volatility in an underlying index will also cause the effects of compounding to be more pronounced, while lower volatility will produce a more muted effect.

All mutual funds have operating expenses, and it is important for our shareholders to understand the impact of costs on their investments. Shareholders of a fund incur two types of costs: (i) transaction costs, including sales charges (loads) on purchase payments, reinvested dividends, other distributions, and exchange fees, and (ii) ongoing costs, including management fees, administrative services, and shareholder reports, among others. These ongoing costs, or operating expenses, are deducted from a fund’s gross income and reduce the investment return of the fund.

A fund’s expenses are expressed as a percentage of its average net assets, which is known as the expense ratio. The following examples are intended to help investors understand the ongoing costs (in dollars) of investing in a fund and to compare these costs with the ongoing costs of investing in other mutual funds.

The examples are based on an investment of $1,000 made at the beginning of the period and held for the entire six-month period beginning March 31, 2023 and ending September 30, 2023.

The following tables illustrate the Funds’ costs in two ways:

Table 1. Based on actual Fund return: This section helps investors estimate the actual expenses paid over the period. The “Ending Account Value” shown is derived from the Fund’s actual return, and the fifth column shows the dollar amount that would have been paid by an investor who started with $1,000 in the Fund. Investors may use the information here, together with the amount invested, to estimate the expenses paid over the period. Simply divide the Fund’s account value by $1,000 (for example, an $8,600 account value divided by $1,000 = 8.6), then multiply the result by the number provided under the heading “Expenses Paid During Period.”

Table 2. Based on hypothetical 5% return: This section is intended to help investors compare a fund’s cost with those of other mutual funds. The table provides information about hypothetical account values and hypothetical expenses based on the Fund’s actual expense ratio and an assumed rate of return of 5% per year before expenses, which is not the Fund’s actual return. The hypothetical account values and expenses may not be used to estimate the actual ending account balance or expenses paid during the period. The example is useful in making comparisons because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) requires all mutual funds to calculate expenses based on the 5% return. Investors can assess a fund’s costs by comparing this hypothetical example with the hypothetical examples that appear in shareholder reports of other funds.

The calculations illustrated above assume no shares were bought or sold during the period. Actual costs may have been higher or lower, depending on the amount of investment and the timing of any purchases or redemptions.

Please note that the expenses shown in the table are meant to highlight your ongoing costs only and do not reflect any transactional costs, such as sales charges (loads) on purchase payments, and contingent deferred sales charges (“CDSC”) on redemptions, if any. Therefore, the second table is useful in comparing ongoing costs only, and will not help you determine the relative total costs of owning different funds. In addition, if these transactional costs were included, your costs would have been higher.

More information about the Funds’ expenses, including annual expense ratios for periods up to five years (subject to the Fund’s inception date), can be found in the Financial Highlights section of this report. For additional information on operating expenses and other shareholder costs, please refer to the appropriate Fund prospectus.

LONG SHORT EQUITY FUND

OBJECTIVE: Seeks long-term capital appreciation.

Holdings Diversification (Market Exposure as % of Net Assets)

“Holdings Diversification (Market Exposure as % of Net Assets)” excludes any temporary cash investments.

Average Annual Returns*

Periods Ended September 30, 2023