Inflation numbers due to be released later Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are expected to show consumer prices rising at their fastest pace since 1982, with investors bracing for what could be a market-moving data drop. Consensus forecasts expect inflation to have picked up its annual pace to 6.8 percent in the 12 months through November, which would be the highest annual rate since May 1982, when it hit 6.9 percent. If the prediction holds, that would amount to a 5.7 percentage point increase in the consumer price index (CPI) inflation gauge from the 1.1 percent rate in November 2020. And that would be the biggest 12-month gain in the measure since the aftermath of the brief recession in the late 1940s saw the CPI gauge spike by over 10 percentage points. On a month-over-month basis, economists expect inflation to have cooled its pace somewhat. Consensus forecasts predict a 0.7 …