JACKSON HOLE, Wyo.—Two Fed officials have played down the likelihood of two rate increases this year beginning as soon as next month, after the U.S. central bank's second-in-command floated the idea on the sidelines of the Kansas City Fed's research conference.

Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer told CNBCÂ on Friday that Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen's Jackson Hole speech, in which she said the case for a rate increase has strengthened, was consistent with the central bank potentially raising rates at its meeting next month and again before the end of the year, if data shows the economy performing well.

In interviews with The Wall Street Journal early Saturday, however, two regional Federal Reserve bank presidents distanced themselves from the idea of two rate increases this year.

" The calendar would allow that, we have three more meetings," Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said, although he added "I wouldn't take [Mr. Fisher's] position today."

"If the economy in the next few weeks performs consistent with my sense of the economy, then I think we ought to have a serious discussion [about interest rates] at the September meeting," Mr. Lockhart said.

While he viewed the overall global risk environment as a bit more settled, the focus is on the domestic economy, which is "chugging along," Mr. Lockhart said. "Probably the conditions will be satisfactory for at least one more" rate increase this year, the Atlanta Fed president said.

The Fed last raised its key interest rate by quarter percentage point in December.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lockhart's counterpart at the St. Louis Fed, James Bullard, reiterated that he is "agnostic" about the timing of the next rate increase, but he said two rate increases this year wouldn't fit with his forecasts.

"If we had a lot of good news and we got into the September meeting and other people wanted to go, I could support that—but again I'm talking about one increase and no planned increases after that," he told The Wall Street Journal.

Following Ms. Yellen's speech on Friday, financial markets raised their expectations for an interest-rate increase by the end of this year, with some economists saying an increase could come as early as next month.

Write to Harriet Torry at harriet.torry@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 29, 2016 00:55 ET (04:55 GMT)