TOKYO—Japan’s household spending posted an annual drop for the fourth straight month in November, a weaker-than-expected reading that threw into doubt hopes that a consumer demand recovery will give a major boost to the economy in the final quarter of 2021.
Household spending fell 1.3 percent in November from a year earlier, government data showed, a surprisingly weak outcome compared with the market forecast of a 1.6 percent gain in a Reuters poll and dropping at a faster pace than October’s 0.6 percent decline.
