(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock markets, click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window.) * Bitcoin bounce after weekend selling lifts crypto stocks * Fed’s preferred inflation gauge set for Thursday * Cabot, Cimarex to merge, create $17 bln oil & gas producer * Indexes up: Dow 0.66%, S&P 1.13%, Nasdaq 1.52% (Adds comment, details; updates prices) May 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street’s main indexes advanced on Monday, with the Nasdaq rising 1.5%, as investors flocked to rate-sensitive technology shares while gearing up for key inflation readings later this week. Risk sentiment also improved with cryptocurrencies clawing back ground after a bout of weekend selling fueled by further signs of a gathering Chinese crackdown on the emerging sector. Crypto-exchange operator Coinbase Global and miners Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital Holdings gained between 1.9% and 4.4%. Technology added 2%, leading sectoral gains as yields on the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond hit a two-week low. Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Nvidia providing the biggest boost to the benchmark S&P 500. Tech is among the worst-performing S&P sectors this month. The Philadelphia semiconductor index and the NYSE FANG+TM Index firmed about 2% each. Equity markets have been rocked in recent weeks as investors juggled between strong economic data and fears that supply side constraints could prompt a prolonged period of higher prices and force the Federal Reserve to pare back its crisis era support. “We are looking at a good positive start to the week as equity valuations are back to a reasonable level and are easily justified which is helping remove a good chunk of speculative trade,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities in New York. “We went through a period of time when we were out of tech and into value stocks, while right now we see a lot of those trades come back into tech.” After falling as much as 4.3% from its May 7 record high, the S&P 500 is now only 1.3% off that level as investors picked up technology stocks that were beaten down the most on rate hike fears. The U.S. personal consumption data on Thursday, the Fed’s preferred inflation measure, will be the centerpiece of the week. “The biggest issue investors are trying to get their hands around is inflation and Fed policy as we head into summertime,” said Michael Sheldon, chief investment officer at RDM Financial Group at Hightower in Westport, Connecticut. At 11:44 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 224.43 points, or 0.66%, at 34,432.27 and the S&P 500 was up 46.82 points, or 1.13%, at 4,202.68. The Nasdaq Composite was up 205.05 points, or 1.52%, at 13,676.05. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp and Cimarex Energy Co agreed to merge to form a U.S. oil and gas producer with an enterprise value of about $17 billion, the latest deal in a sector rebounding from one of its worst downturns. Shares of Cabot and Cimarex fell 5.3% and 6.0%, while the broader energy index firmed 0.5%. Construction materials supplier Martin Marietta Materials Inc said it would buy HeidelbergCement AG’s assets in California and Arizona for $2.3 billion. Martin Marietta’s shares rose 1.5%. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.35-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.13-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded 26 new 52-week highs and no new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 82 new highs and 22 new lows. Reporting by Medha Singh and Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.