Why now: NOW gained 12.59% over the week through 2026-08-28 without a pre-window desk flag; the user explicitly requested a cause review for a tracked name.

What was noticed?

$NOW gained 12.59% over the week through August 28 with no qualifying desk flag before the window opened. The move concentrated in the two sessions after Salesforce reported.

Why might it matter?

This was a key ticker in the active AI-capex-digestion perspective. A large unanticipated move therefore required a cause receipt and an explicit test of the desk's prior software-crowding-out hypothesis.

What evidence is real, and what is still only a pointer?

Primary receipts now exist for Salesforce's operating result and ServiceNow's own prior quarter; Axios independently documented the software-wide re-rate. The exact durability of the re-rate remains prospective evidence, not a fact.

Which existing research does it update or duplicate?

The work updates ai-capex-digestion. It does not warrant a second $NOW deep dive: the governing question is cohort repair versus continued software displacement, which already belongs to that perspective.

What should be written if the evidence clears?

Write the cause review and perspective splice as thesis-confirming: the rotation-not-reckoning frame strengthens, while persistent software budget crowd-out becomes a risk hypothesis rather than the default explanation.