"Our main global macro outlook still maintains that recession is more likely than not in the near future (12 to 18 months) based on the global credit impulse having peaked simultaneously with global inflation," chief economist at Saxo Bank Steen Jakobsen told CNBC.

Recently, Jakobsen wrote in a note that while his company doesn’t predict a recession, its economic model does see a significant slowdown as "the large credit impulse from China and Europe in the early part of 2016 has not reversed to negative."

"While the market at large sees less than a 10 percent chance of recession, we at Saxo – together with our friends at South Africa's Nedbank – see more than a 60 percent chance," he said in the note.

While Saxo sees Europe as the primary driver for global growth, others are unlikely to follow the lead.

"One thing is absolutely clear: Asia is not going to contribute anything in 2017 to growth. China is at a total standstill," Jakobsen told CNBC.

"They don't know what to do with [US President Donald] Trump, and I think Trump again showed his hand over the weekend that he is not to be relied on in terms of a set-out path for how they conduct themselves," he added.

Moreover, Jakobsen is skeptical the US stock rally will continue, as it has been based on the hope of Trump’s stimulus, and not on real events.

"A dominant part of the equity analysts sees a significantly higher S&P, but it's based on hope. Hope to me belongs in church on a Sunday," said the economist.

Coking coal has doubled in two weeks on the back of disruption to Australia’s coal exports associated with Cyclone Debbie which caused serious damage to key rail lines serving mines in the state of Queensland.

Three lines are set to re-open by the end of the week according to operator Aurizon but large sections of the Goonyella railroad in the centre of the network could be out for a further four weeks.

Roughly 12–13 million tonnes of Australian met coal cargoes destined for China, India and Japan could be delayed according to a Mining Weekly report.

The global met coal market is around 300 million tonnes per year with premium hard coking coal or PHCC constituting more than a third of the total market. More than half of PHCC seaborne coal come from Australian producers according to TSI data.

A reduction in allowable work days at China's coal mines last year sparked a massive rally in coal prices, lifting met coal prices to multi-year high of $308.80 per tonne by November from $75 a tonne earlier in 2016.

But the speculative rally fizzled soon fizzled out with the commodity hitting a 2017 low of $150.10 a tonne last month. The record spot price for met coal was set in 2011, also after flooding in Australia.

Authorities warned people to lock down loose objects and avoid flooded roads and drains.
"I thought it was going to go around us, but it's probably going to go through us," Tiwi Islands man Gawin Tipiloura told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
"I don't think we've experienced something [like this] for a long time. Looks like we are going to get hit."
It comes after Cyclone Debbie made landfall as a category four system in Queensland two weeks ago, causing flooding that killed at least six people.