Wholesale price inflation accelerated in January, rising at twice the pace forecasters predicted and delivering a fresh sign of persistent inflationary pressures gripping the U.S. economy. The Labor Department said in a Feb 15 statement that the final demand Producer Price Index (PPI), which is a measure of input costs borne by providers of goods and services, accelerated at a monthly pace of 1 percent in January. That’s double the 0.5 percent pace that forecasters expected. Wholesale prices are a leading indicator of consumer price inflation as costs borne by producers tend to get passed along to consumers. On an annual basis, producer prices rose at a rate of 9.7 percent over the 12 months ended in January, only slightly below November’s and December’s record high pace of 9.8 percent. Economists expected January’s PPI to grow at a slower 9.1 percent pace. Consumer price inflation, as measured by the Consumer …