  We show an analysis on the gauge-independent observables associated with two
stationary configurations of the Standard Model (SM) potential (extrapolated to
high energy at Next-to-Next-to-Leading-Order (NNLO)): i) the value of the top
mass ensuring stability of the SM electroweak vacuum and ii) the value of the
Higgs potential at a rising inflection point. We examine in detail and
reappraise the experimental and theoretical uncertainties which plague their
determination, keeping alive the possibility for the SM of being stable and
studying applications of such configuration to models of primordial inflation.
