QQQQ available direct from Nasdqaq with no fees? (Also mentions EFA, VGK, VPL, VXF)

The NY Times ran an article about ETFs (free registration required) on the front page of its Mutual Funds Report this weekend. Points of note:

• Nasdaq chief marketing officer John Jacobs says that investors will soon be able to buy QQQQ (the Nasdaq 100 tracking ETF) direct from the exchange at low or no costs.

• The iShares MSCI EAFE index ETF, ticker EFA, is now considerably larger than the Vanguard Total International Stock Index mutual fund, at $16.5 billion in assets versus $9.6 billion.

• Assets in State Street's sector ETFs (Select Sector SPDRs) rose 52% in 2004.

• The cheapest ETF (in terms of annual expenses) is still the Vanguard Extended Market Viper (ticker: VXF) at 0.07%, and its Pacific (ticker: VPL) and European (ticker: VGK) index ETFs have considerably lower expenses (0.18%) than the iShares MSCI EAFE Index ETF (0.35%).