Loop of the posts

Hi!
Would appreciate some help –
What would bee correct code to make this code:

<?php query_posts( 'posts_per_page=3' ); the_post(); ?>

         <ul class="news">
            <li><strong><?php the_date(); ?></strong>
               <h4><a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title();?></a></h4>
               <?php the_excerpt(); ?>
			   </li>
         </ul>

		 <?php wp_reset_query(); ?>

display loop of 3 posts. Now shows up only 1 post.
Can somebody help me?
Thanks!