  We update instability and metastability bounds of the Standard Model
electroweak vacuum in view of the recent ATLAS and CMS Higgs results. For a
Higgs mass in the range 124--126 GeV, and for the current central values of the
top mass and strong coupling constant, the Higgs potential develops an
instability around $10^{11}$ GeV, with a lifetime much longer than the age of
the Universe. However, taking into account theoretical and experimental errors,
stability up to the Planck scale cannot be excluded. Stability at finite
temperature implies an upper bound on the reheat temperature after inflation,
which depends critically on the precise values of the Higgs and top masses. A
Higgs mass in the range 124--126 GeV is compatible with very high values of the
reheating temperature, without conflict with mechanisms of baryogenesis such as
leptogenesis. We derive an upper bound on the mass of heavy right-handed
neutrinos by requiring that their Yukawa couplings do not destabilize the Higgs
potential.
