Is American economic angst bottoming out?

More doom on the horizon? Or will happy days soon be here again? Take your pick. The confusion is enough to play havoc on a person’s mood — or an entire nation’s. “Everybody is looking at it through their own personal lens,” says Liza Dawson,a self-employed literary agent from Glen Ridge.

In hard economic times,Americans turn to numbers to see whether things are getting better. Gauging the mood of the republic is not as quantifiable. It is not measured but sampled. Yet the human factor can be crucial. An improving outlook can increase confidence and nudge prosperity along.

In recent days,just as we’ve seen tantalizing,oh-so-subtle hints the economic distress might be leveling off,a smattering of signs has emerged to suggest the national bad mood of recent months may be — and note we say,quite carefully,MAY be — bottoming out.

Last week,fresh retail sales figures,a key indicator of consumer spending and,thus,the American mood,suggested that while people are still holding their cash close to their chest,their sour stomach might be stabilizing a bit — getting “less worse,” in effect.

Numbers from Gallup’s Consumer Mood Index were up 6 points for the week ending April 5,the fourth consecutive week they rose. The index is now as high as it’s been in over a year — buoyed,perhaps,by the upward-creeping stock market. And an AP-GfK poll showed the number of Americans who think the country is heading in the right direction more than doubled between October and February — to 40 percent.

Not that it’s all good,mind you. Just,well,less worse.

Both AT&T and the increasingly beleaguered General Motors are trying to tap into — or is it regenerate? — the American optimism gene with new TV commercials that emphasize the positive talk. For every downturn,one ad says,there is an upturn. The other taps into the longtime American can-do spirit by saying that it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Then there’s the guy in the White House who is trying to fix all this. “We’re starting,” President Barack Obama said Friday,”to see a glimmer of hope.”

But do regular Americans see it the same way? Across geography and political lines,the clarion response was this: Who really knows?

Ask Kristin Smith,34,a Dayton,Ohio,middle-school teacher watching the hometown Cincinnati Reds play the New York Mets one afternoon late last week. “It doesn’t seem like it’s getting better,” she says. “You see it on the news,it sounds a little better,but I don’t see it. … I don’t think we’ve reached bottom.”

Ask Scott Jacobson,57,a Phoenix management consultant who is involved in myriad projects to help others get through the meltdown. He says this: “You can either let it depress you or say ‘OK,I cannot get depressed. I have to keep going.'” But he also says this: “I’m an optimist and I feel fairly gloomy.”