  The inclusive production cross sections for $W^+, W^-$ and $Z^0$-bosons form
important benchmarks for the physics at hadron colliders. We perform a detailed
comparison of the predictions for these standard candles based on recent
next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) parton parameterizations and new analyses
including the combined HERA data, compare to all available experimental
results, and discuss the predictions for present and upcoming RHIC, SPS,
Tevatron and LHC energies. The rates for gauge boson production at the LHC can
be rather confidently predicted with an accuracy of better than about 10% at
NNLO. We also present detailed NNLO predictions for the Higgs boson production
cross sections for Tevatron and LHC energies (1.96, 7, 8, 14 TeV), and propose
a possible method to monitor the gluon distribution experimentally in the
kinematic region close to the mass range expected for the Higgs boson. The
production cross sections of the Higgs boson at the LHC are presently predicted
with an accuracy of about 10--17%. The inclusion of the NNLO contributions is
mandatory for achieving such accuracies since the total uncertainties are
substantially larger at NLO.
